Divided Agenda: The Chicago Housing Authority

Divided Agenda: The Chicago Housing Authority

The Chicago Housing Authority is an agency that is at odds with its own true nature and goals. It is an agency committed to managing the welfare of the poor and disenfranchised. At the same time it is an agency with a commitment to the city of Chicago to “take care “ of the Black poor problem. “Taking care” in this instance seems to mean by any means necessary. Whether Blacks are shuttled about from one part of the city to the next, stacked on top of each other like prisoners, or out and out murdered there seems to be an unspoken agenda to get rid of the problem. The dichotomy I see is that while some of the politicians and more upwardly mobile citizens of Chicago want to help poor people. They also want the problem to disappear.

African Americans first migrated to Chicago during the Great Migration of the 1920’s. They were seeking employment, schooling, and a better quality of life compared to the poverty of the rural south. With almost all mass migrations of poor people Ghettos’ were formed very soon after. The tenements previously inhabited by ethnic whites, such as the Irish, were giving way to Black Ghettos’. The housing was typical of the urban Ghetto’s of the time. Ramshackle dilapidated buildings, disease, and crime.

The Chicago Housing Authority came about as a means to manage the large amount of poor Black residents. “ In 1949, Congress, in addressing a postwar housing crisis, had authorized loans and subsidies to construct 810,000 units of low rent housing units nationwide” (p.21, Kotlowitz). During the 1950’s the first of these new developments were constructed- The Cabrini homes were some of them. These first developments were only one or two stories and were well received by the city and its residents. Then the Chicago Housing Authority hired architects who designed a new type of development. A high-rise building (known as a project) with each unit having at least 15 to 19 floors, and approximately 5-15 buildings within each development. There was a political battle as to where these Projects would be built. After many meetings and court decisions they were finally built at the edges of the existing Ghetto’s.

During the 1960’s the Projects were brand new and many were still under construction. The poor Blacks who were moving into them were happy to have at last a stable place to live, where the rents were affordable, and the environment was clean. (P.19, Kotlowitz) In 1969 there was the famous case of Gautreaux vs. the Chicago Housing Authority. Gautreaux was brought on by a group of tenants who observed that the Projects that neighbored Black ghetto’s were almost exclusively Black. Those that were spread out along the city only had less than 10% of Black residents (p.4, Venkatesh).

At this time the tenants were very active in supporting their community. Meetings were held regularly and the people were determined to make the community a good one. Their seemed to be a hopeful energy because the Projects were a new beginning for the residents. (P.23, Kotlowitz) Unfortunately this peace would have a very short existence.

From the very beginning the buildings main purposes were to house large amounts of people in very small areas. The design of the projects was destined to fail. There were no lobbies, many entrances with no security, and the developments themselves were sheltered making it very hard to be policed. Some were mapped out like mazes, where someone who wanted to commit a crime could barely be found. The hallways were dark, and the elevators were constantly being used as urinals (because there were no lobbies the children who needed to use the bathroom could not wait until they reached their floors). The mismanagement of funds started very early on and residents complained that the repair work was either never done on time, or not at all (p.5, Northwestern).

During the late 60’s it was evident that the priorities of the Chicago Housing authority had changed yet again. Salary caps were introduced for residents, and those who made over a certain amount were denied residency. This created a segregated poor community, where there was no economic diversity (p.6, Northwestern). In the 1960’s the Chicago gangs were formed one of them was the Black P- Stone Nation was born. It was essentially a group of young Black men who were socially conscious, and wanted