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National Center on Poverty Law Press release From: Grant ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Message: 1 Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 10:47:57 -0700 (PDT) From: Grant Subject: National Center on Poverty Law Press release Many of you may already have this but I'm sending it out both for those who don't have it and for those who need it in electronic form. --- Wayne Sherwood wrote: For Immediate Release April 23, 2002 Contact: Stephanie Gadlin Phone: (312) 368-5229 CHA PUBLIC HOUSING PLAN FAILS TO MEET ITS GOALS, CAUSES HOMELESSNESS AND REINFORCES SEGREGATION (CHICAGO) -- Today, the National Center on Poverty Law released the following comments regarding the Chicago Housing Authority's Plan for Transformation. The statement was released by William P. Wilen, housing attorney, at the Coalition to Protect Public Housing April Briefing at 11:00 a.m. at Grace Place, 637 S. Dearborn. The remarks provide in detail the Center's concerns with the current state of public housing in Chicago. REMARKS OF WILLIAM P. WILEN ATTORNEY, NATIONAL CENTER ON POVERTY LAW 1. CHA's Plan for Transformation. The goal of CHA's Plan for Transformation is to provide CHA tenants with 25,000 new or rehabbed units in ten years, by 2009. Of this number, approximately 2/3 (16,750) are to be rehabilitated units for seniors, families and scattered site residents, and only 1/3 (8,250) are to be newly constructed units. Approximately 22,000 units will be demolished, including all of CHA's 53 high-rises and many of its mid-rises, for a net loss of 36% of all of CHA's units. This huge loss of public housing units comes at a time when there is a severe need for housing for very-low income families: there are 48,000 families on CHA's waiting list, 38,000 on the Section 8 waiting list, a 4.2% Chicago area wide vacancy rate, and an already existing shortage of approximately 150,000 units for extremely low income families (less than 30% of area median income) in the region. The 25,000 families in occupancy at CHA as of October 1, 1999 are to have first choice for these units, but they must remain "lease compliant" to be eligible for a replacement unit. In addition, approximately 6,000-7,000 families are slated to be permanently relocated under the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program. The remainder must stay in their developments. They may have to move several times within the development in "consolidation of building" moves, or they may be forced out altogether due to CHA's failure to maintain buildings slated for demolition. Many families are becoming homeless as the Plan for Transformation proceeds. After the two, three, four or more years wait until completion of construction, the family must then be able to meet any "site-specific criteria" imposed on them by CHA, the developer, or the management company. 2. Demolition, New Construction and Rehabilation in 2000-2001. As of the end of 2001, demolition had far outpaced new construction and rehabilitation. According to CHA's 2002 (Moving to Work) Annual Plan, dated October 16, 2001, CHA demolished 3,426 units in 2000 and prior years, and another 3,901 in 2001, for a grand total of 7,327. During this time, CHA constructed only 624 units in 2000 or prior years, and only 75 in 2001, for a grand total of 699 new units. However, 643 of these new units were required to be constructed under the Horner (461) and Cabrini (76) consent decrees and the Memorandum of Agreement (106) in the Lakefront case, regardless of the Plan for Transformation. So actually, CHA has constructed only 56 new public housing units under the Plan for Transformation as of the end of 2001 (these 56 are at Taylor). In addition, CHA has rehabilitated 2,195 units (90 at Horner, 329 at ABLA, 1,026 senior units and 750 scattered site units). 3. CHA's Plans for 2002-2003. According to the 2002 Annual Plan CHA plans to rehab and construct 6,220 units in 2002. In Year I, CHA rehabbed and constructed 1,043 units, and in Year II, 1,851 units. Thus, by the end of Year III, CHA promises to provide over 9,100 units. In Year IV (2003), CHA plans to provide 6, 500 new or rehabbed units, so that by the end of 2003, CHA promises to provide 15,600 units, or 63% of the units promised in the Plan. Time will tell whether CHA will deliver on its promises. 4. Problems with the Plan. (a) Low Numbers of Public Housing Units Being Built Back On-Site. What occurs at each development is determined by the development's "Working Group." Except at Horner and Cabrini where there are federal consent decrees that govern the redevelopment, the Working Group consists of: (1) CHA, (2) the Receiver in the Gautreaux v. CHA case (Daniel Levin and the Habitat Co.), (3) counsel for the Gautreuax plaintiffs, (4) Chicago Department of Housing, (5) Chicago Department of Planning and Development, (6) the Local Tenant Advisory Council (2 seats) and may also include up to two community representatives. The Working Group selects the developer for each site and then oversees construction and rehabilitation. Thus far, the number of newly constructed public housing units to be provided at the various redevelopment sites is very low--typically in the 30%-33% range. (1) At Cabrini, 1,300 units will be demolished and 700 units will be provided (1/2 for working families, but only after the 600 displaced Cabrini families are offered replacement housing). In addition there will be 270 affordable units: rental units for tenants up to 80% of area median income (AMI); for sale units for families up to 120% AMI and market rate units. The income mix will be 50% market, 20% affordable, and 30% public housing. (2) At Madden-Wells, where there are 3,200 public housing units, there will be 3,000 replacement units: 1,000 public housing (but only 750-25% of the total--will be family units; 200 senior units, and 50 for-sale units), 680 affordable and 1,320 market rate units. In addition, all public housing families may have to meet "site specific criteria" of having of job that pays $15,000 per year, or being a full-time student. (3) At Taylor where there once were 4,257 public housing units, there will be 360 market rate units (40%), 240 affordable units (27%) and only 300 public housing units (33%). However, there are 1,400 Taylor families eligible to return, and it is not clear that there will ever be a Phase II at Taylor (based on another HOPE VI grant) or Phase III (based on acquisition of off-site neighborhood lots). (4) At Rockwell, where there once were 1,136 units of public housing, there will now be only 260 units of pubic housing, along with 260 units of affordable housing and 260 units of market rate housing, for a total of 780 replacement units. (5) At ABLA, 3000 units will be demolished and 2,567 units will be built (755 public housing-29% of the total new units), 846 affordable, and 966 market. Counting the 329 rehabilitated Brooks Homes units already completed, the final unit mix at ABLA will be 1084 public housing (37%), 846 affordable (29%) and 966 market (33%). (6) At Horner, where the lawsuit by the residents was settled by consent decree before the repeal of the federal one-for-one replacement rule, there were 1,775 units, and the new Horner will consist of 1.341 units (848 public housing units-63%, 132 affordable-10% and 361 market rate units-27%). (b) Insufficient Money. CHA acknowledges that over $3 billion will be needed to complete work on the plan. Only one-half will come from HUD in installments of $139 million per year for 10 years, and $175 million in 2000-2001 HOPE VI grants. The rest will come from the City, bond proceeds and private developers. According to a December 2001 Chicago Sun Times article by Kate Grossman, CHA will spend the bulk of its $1.6 billion by 2006, then look to City for the remainder. Today we have with us Kevin Jackson, Executive Director of the Chicago Rehab Network. The Chicago Rehab Network (CRN) is a citywide coalition of neighborhood-based nonprofit housing organizations working to create and preserve affordable housing in Chicago and the region. Through research, publications, policy and advocacy, training and technical assistance CRN advocates for affordable housing resources at the local, state and national levels. CRN consists of over 40 housing organizations representing over 60 city neighborhoods. Through the years CRN's efforts have resulted in the creation of tens of thousands of affordable units as hundreds of community-based and for-profit developers have come to see opportunity in our neighborhoods. CRN has followed the CHA transformation over the past three years. Kevin Jackson will now present its findings regarding whether CHA has sufficient money to provide the 25,000 units it has promised. (c) Insufficient Land. Professor Janet Smith from UIC and Pat Wright from the Nathalie P. Voorhees Neighborhood Center at UIC, both respected researchers. They will now present an analysis of whether CHA has enough land to meet its commitment to provide at least 25,000 units of public housing for current residents as promised in the Plan for Transformation. (d) Problems with the Service Connector Program Brian Rogal has been an investigative reporter for the last 3 years on Public Housing with The Chicago Reporter. The investigative monthly set on a mission of documenting the city's, and later the whole metropolitan area's, struggles with the burning issues of race and poverty. While still in its infancy, in its trademark style of dispassionate but exhaustive reporting, the Reporter broke dozens of stories documenting widespread discrimination against African Americans in corporate hiring, city services and governmental affairs. (e) Re-segregation of Public Housing Families under the Section 8 Program. Although the Section 8 program has been re-named the Housing Choice Voucher Program, it is likely that most families being relocated from public housing are being re-segregated into other very-low income black neighborhoods where the condition of the housing is not that much better that the housing from which they left. According to research conducted by Dr. Paul Fischer of Lake Forest College, 80% of the first 1,000 Section 8 families moved were being re-segregated in very low income neighborhoods. Over 80% were relocated to census tracts that were over 90% black, and over 90% were relocated to census tracts that were under $15,000 in median income. There is every reason to believe that these trends will continue with the families who have been relocated since October 1, 1999. One reason to believe this was recently document by the Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing. Kathy Clark is the Executive Director for the Lawyer's Committee on Better Housing. LCBH was founded in 1980 by a small group of lawyers concerned about deteriorating apartment buildings in their Rogers Park neighborhood. LCBH provides free legal services to poor tenants in a way that impacts the affordable housing crisis to the greatest extent possible. Last week LCBH released a Report on Section 8 Housing Choice Voice Discrimination. The report shows that the majority of landlords surveyed explicitly refused to accept vouchers especially from minorities.] Where Will the Tenants Go? Beauty Turner is Assistant Editor with Residents Journal (a publication run by public housing residents) and a resident of Robert Taylor Homes. For the past several years Beauty has assisted Sudhir Venkatesh in his research on Chicago Public Housing and the struggle for residents to maintain community in Robert Taylor Homes. -END- __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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