A dispatch: bougie & uppity

This past Monday, I attended a meeting of the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council. It was an interesting meeting as members discussed issues with representatives of the Chicago Housing Authority. Also three of our local politicians spoke from Ald. Roderick Sawyer 6th Ward to State Sen. Donne Trotter to finally State Rep. Elgie Sims. Finally before they served some food a presentation from representatives of Seaway Bank & Trust Co.

What I did want to discuss was some of the comments made from one of the CAPCC leaders. This is the first meeting I have ever attended of this significant neighborhood organization in Chatham. It's great to see the residents here passionate about their community.

What caught my ear was the statement of one of the members in fact a Vice President of the CAPCC during the discussion with representatives of the CHA. She outright said that the recent residents of that community has significantly diminished the quality of life in the Chatham neighborhood. Is it safe to say she's referring to section 8 tenants?

That is low-income people who may or may not have come from the many housing projects around the city who still need somewhere to live. Therefore they utilize a voucher in order to make their rent wherever they may be able to lease some housing.

They have often been a controversial issue in Chatham and have been blamed for some of the crime issues that occur in those communities that doesn't normally have serious issues with crime. The issue of section 8 renters was discussed at the CAPCC especially as a matter of contrasting the difference in culture of these renters and the neighbors that they'd have to live with. Indeed examples have been offered at this meeting that shows how bridge those difference and indeed one of the CHA reps offered his own example.

Still at the end of the meeting the lady above revisited the subject and made sure to note that people may call residents of the Chatham community "bougie" or "uppity". I recognize she's only saying things like this in her desire to maintain the community that she has known. The narrative is that many have worked hard to create the community that Chatham is currently known for.

In fact every community has the right to fight for the community that either they desire or wish to maintain. Since this is my first experience what was said in relation the CHA discussion would be considered very rough. One could call this very alienating to those who may wish to become active in Chatham?

Chatham does have many issues to address at this current point in time. The question here is to ask if it's wise to point the finger at a certain segment of the community as the cause of all problems and then expect this to be the solution to those problems.

Neighborhoods of CHA relocations experienced higher crime rates

An excerpt from the Sun-Times article:

Crime was worse in neighborhoods where former Chicago Housing Authority residents used vouchers to move into private apartments, a new study found.

From 2000 to 2008, violent crime was 21 percent higher in neighborhoods with high concentrations of voucher-holding former CHA residents — when compared to similar neighborhoods without them, the Washington-based Urban Institute found. Property crime also would have been lower without relocated residents in those neighborhoods, the study said.

Violent crime dropped about 26 percent across the city over the same time period, according to the Chicago Police Department. The Urban Institute attributed about 1 percent of the decrease to CHA’s 1999 plan to knock down Cabrini-Green and other notorious housing complexes.

“We are estimating crime went down less in neighborhoods where the ‘relocatees’ moved,” said Susan Popkin, an author of the study released Thursday.

Chatham Avalon Park Community Council President Keith Tate was interviewed by the Sun-Times and provided some quotes.

Some communities are not very happy to have them. Chatham, where generations of African-American teachers, lawyers and other professionals have called home, has seen an influx of former CHA residents with vouchers — about 120 of them.

“It has been disastrous for Chatham,” said Keith Tate, president of Chatham-Avalon Park Community Association.

“Never did we see individuals sitting on their cars drinking 40-ounce bottles of beer.”

Tate said the community is experiencing a clash between longtime residents with a strong work ethic and former CHA residents on the dole.

“We have opened our arms to accept anyone into our community,” Tate said. “But it has caused a tremendous problem. We have had more burglaries than normal, more shootings. . . . We’re fighting on all fronts now to satisfy the needs of the long-term residents and the new residents who just moved here.”

 I hope you will read the whole thing! Does anyone have any comments about section 8 people in their community?

How to get relief from a section 8 neighbor

Its no secret that the number of households under the Housing Choice Vouchers (i.e. Section 8) has increased. The exact number is not known because that information is protected under privacy laws per CHA.

When this program was outsourced to an entity called CHAC it was a waste of time attempting to get relief from the "neighbors from hell". Based on the presentation from representatives from CHA have made to members of our community they are not any better but because of political pressure from Alderman Lyle and others they are following up on complaints filed against their residents.

The agency has a complaint line and the phone number is 1.800.533.0441. You can report properties in disrepair, illegal subletting, illegal tenants and any other complaints. When making a complaint be specific as possible with names, actions, time of actions and if in a multi family building what floor. Also you can write and attach the form at the right of the page to the regional office at

Southwest Regional Office
10 W. 35th Street
5th Floor
Chicago, IL 60616

Lastly, contact the Alderman's office and let them know what actions you have taken and always document your actions.

Megan Cottrell: When ‘They’ Move Into Your Neighborhood…

Cottrell discusses the new residents moving to her neighborhood, Lincoln Square. Also she mentions that some rental units are ready for new CHA transplants. What is of focus in this article are the bad habit some of these new residents bring with them such as for instance standing around hanging out shooting dice. She mentioned that she was excited because her mostly white neighborhood is seemingly more diverse now with Hispanic and Black families moving in.

Now if you read her piece, does what she says seem familiar to you? We may say the same about new residents moving to this community and we may also come to the same conclusion that she had about who "they" are and where "they" came from.

Section 8 Housing -Good idea gone Bad ?

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/one-story-up/2009/10/response-to-joe-section-8.html#


This article asks the question "Do white families deserve the crime Section 8 tenants bring with them? ".

Do you feel that the rise in crime comes from section 8 housing?

Section 8 in Chicago

Skurry at Logan Square Sewer talks about his experience in "Section 8" housing. Something to consider I suppose before anyone attempts to talk down such people.