Where did all the people go?
7 years later, are the raze-and-rebuild plans succeeding?
A year ago, Darla Riley and her daughter lived in what she called "complete madness" in the ABLA public housing project near Little Italy.
"There were gangs, drugs, shootings, people kicking on your door. It was crazy!" said Riley, who moved in May to a peaceful mixed-income building near Roosevelt and Racine.
"There were gangs, drugs, shootings, people kicking on your door. It was crazy!" said Riley, who moved in May to a peaceful mixed-income building near Roosevelt and Racine.
"It's not even night and day," she said.
(Dom Najolia/Sun-Times)
The Chicago Housing Authority had high hopes in 2000:
By 2010, tear down the high-rise ghettos and build something better. Now, the goal is to finish by 2015. This week, the Sun-Times follows its "CHA's Big Gamble'' series with a progress report.
Coming Wednesday: Can the CHA find the cash to finish its mixed-income communities?
"It's not even night and day," she said.
In 2000, the Chicago Housing Authority began leveling its buildings and offered up big promises with its $1.6 billion "Plan for Transformation."
And nearly seven years later, the CHA has started to deliver. Sixty-six high-rises are now rubble, and by January, the CHA will have finished 61 percent of its promised 25,000 apartments.
"For residents, seeing is believing," said Sandra Young, a CHA tenant and CHA board member. "They thought the units wouldn't be for them, but they are. They're seeing it."
But in the early rush to close buildings, CHA and its contractors moved families haphazardly, did little to prevent them from clustering in poor areas and grossly underfunded social services, critics charge.
And demolition has far outpaced redevelopment. Only 25 percent of CHA's original families are in new or rehabbed housing, with some in mixed-income clashing with neighbors and feeling like second-class citizens. The rest are still waiting or no longer eligible.
"The plan is meeting CHA's goals but not the needs of residents," said Francine Washington, a resident leader.
Though behind schedule, the CHA and developers have jump-started long-stalled mixed-income developments across Chicago, including at notorious sites such as Robert Taylor and Ida B. Wells. And, to the surprise of skeptics, middle- and working-class families are eagerly renting and buying next to CHA families.
Most relocating families took vouchers to rent apartments, with the majority choosing poor South and West Side neighborhoods. The moves are meant to be temporary but with construction delays, they could last at least five years or become permanent. Many aldermen are up in arms.
"They had absolutely the right idea to take down the high-rises; the problem is that the thinking only got that far," said Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th). "They substituted vertical poverty for horizontal poverty."
CHA leaders have responded, though problems remain. CHA slowed relocation, and counselors now earn more for moving families to higher-income areas. For people already renting in poor areas, there is new help finding apartments in better-off, integrated areas. Some forces are beyond CHA's control, such as the location of affordable units and resident preferences.
The agency also dramatically boosted spending for social services and is focusing intensely on employment. It is pushing literacy training, subsidized jobs for people who haven't worked and free training in such high-growth fields as truck driving and health care.
Critics see improvement but say some social service agencies hired by the CHA and city aren't any good.
Other major challenges lie ahead.
The plan is just reaching its halfway point. The CHA now expects to finish the 25,000 apartments by 2015, instead of 2010. It is asking the feds, who pay most of CHA's bills, for an extension. This raises questions about how many of its remaining 5,600 mixed-income apartments it can afford to build.
And the work of making these communities viable -- where class warfare doesn't reign, where there are good schools, parks and retail -- is just getting started.
Without help, many current CHA families will likely fail screening rules for mixed housing, including holding jobs. At initial screenings so far, before help is offered, just 35 percent are eligible.
But if families are screened out, CHA says they will have a place. Half of a promised 15,500 family apartments are scheduled for rehab in developments without screening rules.
By 2010, CHA hopes to rehouse 20,000 families and seniors -- that's everyone still eligible from the original 25,000 in 1999. About 4,000 families have dropped out and 1,000 were evicted.
"People are better off than when they were living in a warehouse where drug dealers and gang-bangers ruled," said Terry Peterson, CHA chief from 2000 until Sept. 29. He's now working on a possible re-election campaign for Mayor Daley. Sharon Gist Gilliam, CHA board chair since 2000, replaced him.
CHA officials graded themselves a B+ overall.
"We've made a lot of progress," he said. "But we still have a lot to do."
6/06: 27,372 apartments; 15,746 occupied apartments; about 31,602 people
SOURCE: Chicago Housing Authority
To go: 4,248
* Another 3,065 apartments were torn down before 1999. In 1999, CHA had nearly 39,000 apartments. It says it only has money to rebuild 25,000. Demolitions were mandated by federal officials.
SOURCE: Chicago Housing Authority annual plans
We asked experts to grade CHA's progress in meeting goals set in 2000 and compiled a report card
Moving out: C
Are relocations from closed buildings humane?
Has CHA done enough to help prevent families renting with vouchers from clustering in mostly poor neighborhoods?
Social services: C-
Are residents linked to promised non-housing help?
Money: B+
Has CHA spent wisely and leveraged federal dollars?
City of Chicago: B
Have new streets and other infrastructure, parks, schools and other public services come through as promised?
Rebuilding: C+
Have CHA and its partners made progress in rehousing 25,000 families and seniors in viable communities, with good retail, parks and public services?
Mixing income groups: Two grades
B + = Have developers recruited middle- and working-class families to live next door to public housing families?
C+ = Is enough being done to prevent neighbors from clashing and to link residents to social and public services, retail and jobs?
Grading scale
A - meets expectations and performs exceptionally well
B - meets expectations and performs well
C - meets minimum expectations
How the grades were assigned
The Chicago Sun-Times compiled the grades from interviews and survey responses from 16 people intimately involved with the Plan for Transformation, including residents, civic leaders, advocacy lawyers, social service providers, aldermen and private developers. The respondents were asked to give CHA a cumulative grade, evaluating how the agency and its partners have done over the last seven years.