Public Housing Projects

Time Period: Post Great Depression – 2010

Issue: Racial segregation, displacement, relocation, urban renewal

Parties Involved:

Chicago Housing Authority

Julius Rosenwald

City of Chicago Government

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

The Scoop:

After the Great Depression and World War II there was a severe housing shortage in Chicago. The Chicago Housing Authority was created in 1937 with the purpose of providing housing for poor and low-income residents.  At first, projects were placed in both white and black areas, but white aldermen later blocked their construction in white neighborhoods. Even once the black neighborhoods had become largely overcrowded proposed public housing in less congested areas of the cities in 1946 was received with intense and sustained violence from white residents. City politicians forced the Chicago Housing Authority to follow the racial boundaries of neighborhoods, paving the way for the development in the late 1950s and early 1960s of huge high-rise projects. City planners had hoped the high-rise buildings would house many more residents relatively cheaply. But social problems plagued the complexes as the CHA failed to adequately maintain the homes.

The Struggle:

The Ida B. Wells housing development, Robert Taylor Homes, and Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments are just a few of the many public housing projects that existed in Chicago, however, these three will be used to highlight some of the struggles the residents had to overcome.

Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments

Current view:

Following the charges that the city perpetuated racial segregation through its public housing policy of building only in black areas federal funding was withdrawn from new construction. In 1995 Congress authorized housing officials to determine which of their projects were unsalvageable and allocate funds for their demolition. The acres that once contained high-rises will become mixed-income lots of townhomes and single-family dwellings. As the housing projects were demolished those residents that were eligible received Section 8 vouchers for housing in private markets. Many more problems arouse for the displaced tenants, among them being that for those that did qualify for Section 8 there were only enough vouchers to help a fraction of the families, many landlords decline to participate for various reasons, foreclosure of buildings they had been renting, and many of the apartments they were placed in did not meet living conditions.

Ten years ago, more than 100,000 public housing residents in Chicago learned that their buildings would be torn down. Telling Our Story reveals the human story behind America’s most ambitious plan to transform public housing. This is the residents’ story: the hardships they experienced, the gains some enjoyed, the lessons they’ve learned, and their hopes for the future. Telling Our Story is a call to action for public housing residents and public housing authorities nationwide. It offers a timely reminder that good public policy cannot be developed without the voices of those most affected being included in its planning and implementation.

Telling Our Story was produced by the Chicago Video Project.