Chicago

There is a signficant housing crisis in Chicago facing poor and low income communites.

Homelessness

In 2003, Mayor Daley ratified the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, which would drastically change services available to Chicago’s unhoused residents. Designed to end homelessness by 2012, the plan would replace the long-established shelter-based system, which provides temporary emergency shelter to those in need, with one in which the homeless are placed in permanent housing. In addition, continued services and care would be guaranteed after placement. Homeless shelters would be closed down or converted into “interim shelters,” where, within 120 days, homeless people would be assigned a permanent home. By 2012, 32% of shelter beds would be eliminated. To compensate for this loss, 3,283 new permanent homes would be built.

However, the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness underestimates the demand for homeless services, is under-resourced, and has failed both in its promise to provide permanent housing and its guarantee to provide services.

The homeless population in Chicago is miscalculated and, therefore, resources undersupplied. In census reports, the City represents its homeless population from surveys and “single-night homeless population” counts. In a given night, the homeless are physically counted in shelters and public spaces, in accordance with HUD’s definition of homelessness. This does not account for individuals who “double up,” or are living temporarily with others. In any case, it is unlikely that the highly-transient homeless population will be fully accounted for by data collected in a specific point in time.

Consequently, the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness provided only 164 units of permanent housing in 2004 even though 2,342 families were in need, the number of projected units for homeless single adults is half the actual number of those actually needed, and only half of new units were actually newly built or permanent.

It is clear that Chicago’s homeless shelters are being closed too rapidly in comparison to the rate at which new shelter is provided. The situation is exacerbated by the current economic crisis, which increases demand for homeless services and undercuts supply as shelters close due to insufficient funds. As many as 95% of shelters are currently filled to capacity. One shelter reported to be turning away three times as many people as it serves. Homeless resources in Chicago are being removed at a time when they are most needed.

With fewer shelters and inadequate supply of replacement shelter, Chicago’s homeless have nowhere to turn and little compassion is shown. In 2008, the Chicago Transit Authority posted signs prohibiting “continuous riders,” those who ride a train to its last stop and then again on its return route: a policy aimed at homeless people who take refuge from Chicago’s harsh winter months in its trains.

Public Housing

The Plan for Transformation, initiated in 1999, aimed to eliminate high-rise public housing complexes, along with other “distressed” public housing units, and replace them with mixed-income developments. $1.5 billion were allocated to re-build or restore 25,000 public housing units within these developments, but this would only account for one-third of all units built. The plan mandated that one-third of units be public housing units, one-third be designated as affordable, and one-third be market-rate units. Many displaced residents would be moved to the private market equipped with Section 8 Vouchers.

The Plan for Transformation demolished 51 high-rise apartments over 10 years. Like the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, which itself caused the elimination of 18,997 units of public housing, the Plan for Transformation has destroyed available shelter at a faster rate than it has created, resulting in the overall reduction in public housing units. Over 16,000 displaced families that were already in public housing may be supplied with less than half the units required to house them and less than 20% of displaced residents are able to return to their neighborhood.

Chicago’s public housing has been deemed the worst in the entire nation. In the 1990s Hope VI failed to replace units destroyed on a one-for-one basis. In 1996, public housing was overtaken entirely by HUD, which did away with the one-for-one rule. This, in turn, provided a gateway for the implementation of projects such as the Plan for Transformation, which, evidently, only worsens the housing situation for public housing residents.

Allocating only one-third units in mixed-income developments for public housing and two-thirds to higher-income families seems unreasonable when an astounding 98.4% of public housing residents in Chicago earn less than $20,000. Displaced residents given housing vouchers find that few landlords are willing to accept them. The Plan for Transformation also implemented stringent demands to obtain housing within mixed-income developments that can be demeaning and pry into the private lives of people seeking public housing. These include attending parenting classes and passing housekeeping inspections. Non-compliance may result in eviction. Some may view this as a step towards upscale development and gentrification.

With public housing already significantly reduced, Chicago’s low-to-extremely-low income residents may face reductions in available affordable housing if their city wins the Olympic Bid. Despite a $200 million deficit, the City would allot $500 billion towards the 2012 Olympic Games, funds that could be used to improve housing, and other services, such as education and healthcare. In addition, the placement of sports facilities in Chicago would cause rents to escalate.

Section 8

In 1997, CHAC Inc. was hired to administer Chicago’s Section 8 Voucher Program. The privately-owned Washington-based firm discarded past waiting lists and opened a new round of applications. That year, over 100,000 applications for vouchers were received and only 35,000 were chosen at random to receive the vouchers. In addition, only about 2,000 vouchers became available through turnover. It had taken ten years to get through most of the previous waiting list; at this rate, a new list is more likely to be compiled before CHAC reaches the end of this one. In 2008, a lottery was held to be placed in a waiting list for 40,000 new housing vouchers. However, given the waiting times and high demand, winning families may have only won a chance to wait indefinitely.

In addition to long waiting lists, Section 8 holding individuals and families face other challenges. They face a lack availability of Section 8 housing units. Many landlords are unwilling to accept vouchers, sometimes because of stereotypes associated with their holders, and many apartments do not meet minimum housing requirements to qualify as Section 8. Also, Section 8 contract holders, landlords who accepted Section 8 families under contract, are increasingly finding it more profitable to switch their units to market rate upon the completion of their contracts. Limited supply increases the difficulty of finding adequate housing and, since holders are allotted only 120 days to find housing, many vouchers remain unused and those that do not use them are removed from the waiting list. Last, Chicago’s Section 8 families are continually clustered in poor minority neighborhoods since the program’s rent rate requirements are insufficiently high for them to move to low-poverty areas.

In addition to advocacy around housing issues, community groups in Chicago are also  fighting the Olympic bid the city hopes to secure.  Poor and low income residents understand that if the Olympics come to Chicago it will mean more displacement for them.

Chicago Groups in the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights:

Cabrini Green Rowhouse Council
Chicago Independent Human Rights Council
Coalition to Protect Public Housing
People for Community Recovery