HOPE VI and Neighborhood Revitalization

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Abstract

The Chicago Process Study was initiated in 2001 to document and assess the early implementation of the HOPE VI redevelopment at the Madden and Wells public housing developments and the changes occurring in the surrounding neighborhoods. Through the study, Urban Institute researchers have provided feedback to the Chicago Housing Authority on HOPE VI-related activities with the idea that findings might inform later stages of redevelopment as well as other public housing redevelopment efforts. This final report examines the status of site development of Oakwood Shores, the breadth of neighborhood change surrounding the HOPE VI site, public housing resident relocation, and supportive services available to current and former residents of the Madden and Wells public housing developments as of autumn 2005.

Introduction

The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) received a HOPE VI grant of $35 million in 2000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to redevelop the Ida B. Wells, Wells Extension, Madden Park Homes, and Clarence Darrow Homes public housing developments¹. The Madden and Wells site, which covers 94 acres of land, originally offered over 3,200 public housing units. According to the master plan for redevelopment, the newly built and renamed Oakwood Shores will offer 3,000 housing units, 1,000 of which are proposed to be public housing units. The remainder of units will be a mix of market rate and affordable rentals, as well as some number of units for sale within each income tier of housing. The footprint for the redeveloped site includes approximately 20 adjoining acres of blighted and vacant property. At the time of Urban Institute’s site visit in August 2005, the Madden and Wells redevelopment was in the sixth year of a ten-year plan.

The CHA has received six HOPE VI revitalization grants to date—the most received by any one city². Unlike many of the housing authorities that have received one or even a few grants, CHA does not approach the redevelopment of a particular public housing site as an isolated project; rather, it takes advantage of the HOPE VI program to support a broader effort to transform the majority of the city’s public housing developments. This larger Plan for Transformation was initiated in 1999. The development of mixed-income housing through HOPE VI also supports the city’s related but distinct efforts to revitalize long-disinvested neighborhoods. As one example, not far from the Madden and Wells site, one can already see banners and other streetscape changes associated with the effort to mark an area as the destination for jazz and blues in the city. The redevelopment of the Madden and Wells developments is occurring within these broader efforts of public housing and neighborhood transformation.

¹ Following the practice of the previous Chicago Process Study report, we refer to the Wells/Madden/Darrow HOPE VI site as Madden and Wells. The Darrow Homes development was demolished by the time the HOPE VI application was submitted to U.S. HUD.
² CHA has received demolition and revitalization grants for the Cabrini Homes Extension (1994), Henry Horner Homes (1996), ABLA (1996, 1998), Robert Taylor Homes (1996, 2001), Madden and Wells (2000), and Rockwell Gardens (2001). CHA also has received one planning grant for ABLA, Horner, and Rockwell Gardens (1995) (www.housingresearch.org accessed 11/4/05).

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The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

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