by Lisa Ashkenaz Croke and Linda Portiera-Peace
Uptown residents rallied together in the freezing rain Saturday, May 11, demanding that the CTA sell a vacant lot for $1 to develop low-cost housing on the site, and that half of all new housing funded by tax increment financing (TIF) be designated for low income residents.
The alarming decline of not only affordable, but available rental space has given rise to a diverse body of community and city organizations focused on preserving and creating realistic housing opportunities for the poor. The Wilson Coalition, comprised of over 30 such groups, marched from the Goldblatt’s building on Broadway just south of Lawrence Ave. to the Wilson Yard, a decrepit five-acre plot owned by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) on Wilson Ave just south of Montrose Ave. and a target for TIF development.
Earlier hopes that city leaders would respond to a 1999 referendum where 76 percent of voters agreed that local, state and federal entities should “do everything in their power” to preserve and develop affordable housing, were dashed when residents’ recent appeals to utilize tax funded redevelopment of the Goldblatt’s building for the construction of 50 low-income units were denied. The space is under consideration for condominiums, selling at market prices, and a Borders bookstore.
“There’s no reason why (the city) should be using tax money to fund development that the market could afford on its own,” said Karen Zuccor, a neighborhood middle school teacher and member of the Community of Uptown Residents for Affordability and Justice (COURAJ).
COURAJ initiated the Wilson Yard Coalition as part of its plan to fight the housing crisis by calling for low-cost housing to be a priority for any Wilson Yard TIF projects. The plan demands that the CTA allow a developer to acquire the site for one dollar in exchange for constructing 200-300 low-cost units, and that the City of Chicago acquire any remaining vacant property in that TIF district for an additional 100 such units. Ideal housing candidates are families who qualify for the federal government’s free lunch program (those with an annual income under $22,000 annually). According to COURAJ, that would include over 92 percent of children attending Uptown public schools.
“We favor development, but only development that is community-guided and that does not displace poor people,” stated COURAJ in a press release that also called for an elected community review board to ensure area TIF projects comply.
Plans were displayed at the rally for a proposed housing development, offering studio through 4-bedroom units, separate day care and senior centers, and a small park.
For Uptown, the Wilson Yard is seen as a new opportunity to remedy residents’ concerns over declining space for the poor, as well as the loss of the neighborhood’s ethnic and financial diversity. Marchers hoisted signs listing the names of an estimated 250 individuals and families “displaced” from the increasingly valuable Lakefront property. Further, according to participant organization Queer to the Left, Section 8 rental units are scheduled to convert to private market rates within the next five years. In a community significantly comprised of Social Security residents and an estimated 1,000 people living with AIDS, the effect could be devastating. A Chicago SSI disability recipient receives approximately $530 monthly, while the current Fair Market Rate figure form the Department of Housing and Urban Development lists a 1-bedroom unit at $661. “You’ve got to get the word out, people don’t understand,” said Charles W. Chapman, who was asking people for spare charge. “We’ve got a lot of people living here who show up from mental institutions and clinics and VA hospitals, and none of them have any money, but they all need a place to live.”
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