CHA New Work Rule Questioned
Winter 2008 / Number 44

The CHA Board of Commissioners approved a new rule requiring all "able-bodied" adult residents - ages 18 to 61 - to work in order to keep their public housing rental unit, during their December 2007 public meeting.

Checking Chicago's War on Drugs
January 2007 / Volume 8 / Number 4

Relocated and current Chicago public housing residents, as well as their private market neighbors in poverty-stricken areas want to know what the city police force is doing about their safety.

Altgeld Gardens News
January 2007 / Volume 8 / Number 4

I toured the Altgeld Gardens public housing development on the fare South Side following the June 20, 2006 Chicago Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meeting after several residents strongly encouraged me to talk to tenants they said had some concerns about their rehabbed units.

Illegal Immigration: Cries for Justice
January 2007 / Volume 8 / Number 4

Around town and around the nation, many voices have been crying out for justice regarding the issues of illegal immigration. At a massive march on May 1 in Chicago, hundreds of thousands of undocumented illegal aliens and their advocates marched and rallied demanding labor and civil rights, as well as to convince U.S. congressional leaders to give them amnesty for their illegal entries into America.

Victory at Bridgeport Homes
February/March 2006 / Volume 8 / Number 3

For years, the resident leaders of the South Side CHA Bridgeport Homes public housing complex said that Legum and Norman, the private property management firm for the public housing site, were poor managers.

Deadly Moves II
February/March 2006 / Volume 8 / Number 3

In "Deadly Moves," a series of articles produced by Residents' Journal and the Chicago Reporter magazine in the fall of 2004, a year long investigation found that the murder rate increased in public housing developments and areas where CHA residents had been relocated across the city under the Chicago Housing Authority's $1.6 billion Plan for Transformation.

Primary Election Coverage: Cook County Presidential Race
February/March 2006 / Volume 8 / Number 3

As the two Democratic frontrunners for the Cook County Board President were prepping for primary race elections in March, Residents' Journal spoke to incumbent Cook County Board President John Stroger and to his contender, Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool, about their plans for the poor.

Health Watch: Bird Flu Pandemic Expected
February/March 2006 / Volume 8 / Number 3

Congressional leaders are currently rushing to prepare for the "looming danger" of a bird flu pandemic, according to U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), and others who spoke at the federal Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee hearings on Influenza Preparedness, on January 31, 2006, in Washington , D.C.

CHA Contracting Woes
February/March 2006 / Volume 8 / Number 3

Residents of public housing are constantly being told by the Chicago Housing Authority and its private housing contractors to properly manage their personal affairs in order to be lease compliant under their $1.6 billion Plan for Transformation.

Illinois Democrats Resist Social Security Privatization
February/March 2005 / Volume 8 / Number 2

The Republicans and the Democrats are battling it out over Social Security. While everyone agrees Social Security must be reformed, Democrats deny there is a crisis, as alleged by President George W. Bush.

Black Metropolis National Heritage Area Project
February/March 2005 / Volume 8 / Number 2

A small group of Chicago Bronzeville area residents, local business people, and housing developers recently got together to talk about ways to make the "Black Metropolis" a National Heritage Area.

"Deadly Moves" - an update
November/December 2004 / Volume 8 / Number 1

The city, its police department and the Chicago Housing Authority recently proposed to increase police patrols at several public housing sites and in areas where residents have been relocated.

Wipe Out
November/December 2004 / Volume 8 / Number 1

The families living in the remaining buildings at Madden Park Homes on the South Side were wiped out of the Tenant Council Election this November. They received no official notice of the change that the Chicago Housing Authority made just prior to the resident elections.

More CHA Residents Voting Woes
November/December 2004 / Volume 8 / Number 1

For more than 30 years, residents using project-based Section 8 Housing Vouchers within the City-State properties have participated in Tenant Council Elections along with the residents living in public housing units at the sites, according to Robert Whitfield, an attorney representing the CHA resident councils.

Deadly Moves: Troubling Development
August/September 2004/ Volume 7 / Number 6

While Mayor Richard M. Daley is touting his plans to remake Chicago Housing Authority developments into mixed-income neighborhoods, a firm that manages one of his showcase communities is charging that the city is not doing enough to stop open drug dealing on its site.

Deadly Moves: Lack of Force
August/September 2004/ Volume 7 / Number 6

When Francine Washington noticed hordes of police officers outside U.S. Cellular Field this spring, she walked toward the ballpark and counted them. The stadium, home of the Chicago White Sox, sits about three blocks west of the Stateway Gardens public housing development where she lives with her husband of 23 years.

Bronzevill Community Alert
August/September 2004/ Volume 7 / Number 6

On April 30th, several prominent people met at the Renaissance Apartments at 37th Street and Wabash Avenue to alert the public about gentrification and the Chicago Housing Authority redevelopment in the historic Bronzeville community.

A Championship Victory
March/April 2004 / Volume 7 / Number 5

Pubilc housing residents of the Stateway Gardens complex recently scored a slam-dunk victory over the Chicago Police Department in a one-half million dollar over illegal police searches at a basketball game in February.

Clock Ticking for HOPE IV Projects
January/February 2004 / Volume 7 / Number 4

Public housing agencies nationwide risk losing their federal funding for redevelopment projects if their projects are not on schedule, according to the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department recently.

Is It "Doomsday" For Public Housing?
January/February 2004 / Volume 7 / Number 4

CHA's new mixed-income communities could wind up with few -or even no- public housing units, under a "doomsday clause" in federal housing law being inserted into redevelopment plans across the city, according to lawyers for residents.

Report Criticizes CHA Relocations
January/February 2003 / Volume 6 / Number 6

All is apparently not well on the home front for many public housing residents who are undergoing the Chicago Housing Authority's massive $1.6 billion plan to turn its public housing properties into mixed-income communities.

Residents Sue CHA
January/February 2003 / Volume 6 / Number 6

Former and current public housing residents who claimed to be "involuntarily displaced and segregated" filed suit against the Chicago Housing Authority on Jan 23, 2003. The lawsuit alleges that CHA "failed to provide adequate relocation assistance and effective social services to families displaced by public housing demolition," in violation of federal law and CHA's contractual agreements with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and with CHA resident leaders.