Among the four U.S. cities that were top recipients of special federal public housing redevelopment funds, only Chicago has not built any new units with the money in the last five years, according to an investigative monthly magazine on race and poverty.
From 1993 to 1998, Chicago received $150 million in Hope VI funding, and while some of the money was spent to tear down buildings and for planning and other purposes, no new housing has been built with it, The Chicago Reporter magazine reported in its November issue, released Monday.
During the same time period, using Hope VI funds, San Francisco built 982 housing units, Baltimore built 719 units and Detroit built 79 new units.
In Chicago, the widely publicized reconstruction of the Cabrini-Green development on the city’s Near North Side has reached a standstill and construction at two other developments has been delayed, primarily, the magazine reports, because the court-appointed private real estate firm, The Habitat Co., has tried to maintain control over the projects.
At issue is $40 million in Hope VI funds earmarked for Habitat to build new units at Cabrini-Green.
Habitat sought and won a delay in the Cabrini redevelopment by blocking a 1998 compromise redevelopment plan between the city, the Chicago Housing Authority and Cabrini residents that would have given Cabrini residents a 51 percent interest in the redevelopment project.
Carol Steele, a member of the Cabrini-Green Local Advisory Council, said: “We have been negotiating for a long time. After we came to an agreement with the city and the Chicago Housing Authority, Habitat stepped in and said they were not involved in the process.”
But in an interview with the Tribune, Daniel Levin, chairman of The Habitat Co., said his firm was just doing its job as court-appointed receiver.
“The tenants and CHA chose to proceed unilaterally without us,” Levin said. “They wanted control of the management and the decision-making process. We did not think that was in the interest of the CHA or the city or the residents.
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“We have nothing to gain by these delays. If they would let us proceed and do the job, a lot of units would have been built. The very people complaining are the ones holding up development.”
The Hope VI stalemate is one of a myriad of challenges confronting the administration of Mayor Richard M. Daley, which last summer regained control of the CHA from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD took over the scandal-plagued city agency in 1994.
“One of the initial priorities is to do whatever we can to mediate whatever settlements we can,” said John Roberson, the CHA’s chief of development.
“It’s not the cleanest process,” Roberson said. “We have all of the lawyers at the table, but at the end of the day, lawyers don’t build housing. I have the utmost faith that all of the stakeholders will be able to resolve the issues and get this done.”
The Reporter article also points out the first phase of redevelopment of the Henry Horner Homes is behind schedule, with only 380 of a total of 466 units complete. The final 86 units are not scheduled for completion until June 2000.
Although the first phase of Henry Horner is not being built with Hope VI funds, the delay is stalling construction of the second phase, which is to be built with an $18 million Hope VI grant that already has been awarded.
At Robert Taylor Homes, which received a $25 million Hope VI grant in 1996, no new units have been completed. However, 29 units now are under construction, and some are expected to be completed within the next two months, Roberson said. Roberson said those units are being built off-site and are part of a 116-unit mixed-income development CHA is planning.
The CHA has demolished five buildings–roughly 790 units–at Robert Taylor with HOPE VI funds.