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Eight Forty-Eight

Transformation:
The History and Future of Public Housing in Chicago

Follow the story of almost 70 years of public housing in Chicago, from its creation as ideal, mixed-income communities in the 1930s, through its decline in the 1970s and 1980s, to the present plan to remake public housing into livable neighborhoods. The story is told through the experiences of those who lived—and the many who still live—in public housing buildings, as well as those who've worked to understand and improve housing for the poor.

This series was broadcast on Eight Forty-Eight from October 22 to 24, 2001 @ 9:30 am

The Early Years Monday, October 22, 2001 In the early years of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), the focus was the great need for livable housing and the CHA's visionary plans to build homes for the poor. Listen to descendants of families who came to Chicago looking for a better life and found it in public housing communities. Former tenants, politicians, historians, and others illuminate the struggle to build livable communities in the face of shifting economics, changing race relations, and an entrenched political machine. The Civil Rights Era Tuesday, October 23, 2001 During the Civil Rights era and the many factors that began to radically transform Chicago's public housing from mixed-income settlements to enclaves of poverty. Follow the escalating difficulties for tenants as resources and economic opportunities diminished, and public housing residents became more isolated from the mainstream of city life. 5266 South State Street in 1998, immediately after families have been relocated and demolition is about to begin.               The 1990s and the Plan for Transformation Wednesday, October 24, 2001 The federal took over of the CHA in the 1990s. That intervention led to the CHA's move to remake itself through a multi-million dollar Plan for Transformation which is now underway. These changes are examined through the perspectives of families who must move to new homes, organizations, developers, and CHA officials who are aiding in that relocation, and communities where these families are resettling. A roundtable discussion on the future of public housing in Chicago, moderated by Eight Forty-Eight host Steve Edwards, followed this final segment. Robert Taylor Homes 1998: demolition of second, third, and fourth buildings at 53rd and State

Credits:
Professor Sudhir Venkatesh — Prof. Venkatesh is a sociologist at Columbia University and the creator of this series. He is also the author of American Project: The Rise and Fall of a Modern Ghetto.

Andrea De Fotis — De Fotis is an independent radio producer and is the producer of this series. Most recently she was the audio editor for CITY2000, an unprecedented one year photography, video, and audio documentary project designed to capture and preserve a record of life in Chicago in the year 2000.

Beauty Turner — Turner, a staff reporter at The Residents’ Journal, contributed to this report. She is a resident of the Robert Taylor Homes.

Cate Cahan — Cahan is the editor of Eight Forty-Eight and the editor of this series.

This series is funded, in part, by The Chicago Community Trust.

The series is produced for Eight Forty-Eight in collaboration with The Residents' Journal, a publication by and for CHA tenants.