Residents of the Julia C. Lathrop Homes, a public housing project on a long stretch of valuable riverfront land that is nearly set for redevelopment, are gearing up for a protest next week against the plan from the Lathrop Community Partners and Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) that will return only 400 of the development’s original 925 public housing units to the area.
While much of the public housing project, which spans 34 acres, has been shuttered, about 125 families still remain at the site according to representatives with Related Midwest, one of the developers behind the proposal which will overhaul the housing project which dates back to the Great Depression. Some of the remaining residents met last night to discuss a protest on Tuesday, June 21 at the Chicago Housing Authority’s next board meeting. The city agency, which has been collecting millions of federal dollars on the mostly-vacant Lathrop Homes development, currently has a wait list that can take years, if not decades, to receive public housing or a housing choice voucher (Section 8).
This past March, hundreds of Lathrop residents and affordable housing advocates protested the plan, specifically the CHA’s "broken promises" to return the 525 public housing units that are not a part of the project’s redevelopment. However, Alderman Proco Joe Moreno (1st) has since announced a plan to bring 88 units of affordable housing to Milwaukee Avenue near the heart of Logan Square. There is still some concern regarding the funding for the redevelopment, as the National Parks Service has put the developers’ application for historic tax credits on hold.
The planners behind next week’s protest are expected to make a formal announcement on Monday.
- National Parks Service Pushes Back on Lathrop Redevelopment Plan [Curbed Chicago]
- Lathrop Homes Redevelopment Plan Draws Sunday Protesters [Curbed Chicago]
- Lathrop Homes Redevelopment Gets Plan Commission Nod [Curbed Chicago]
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