Table Of ContentB
o
w
l THE
y
“In amazingly readable prose, Dev Bowly updates the story of Chicago public
T
housing. From the perspective of one who has been in the trenches but who
H
also brings scholarly breadth and depth to the tale, the author lays out the
E
POORHOUSE
issues and problems for every iteration of public housing plans since the early
P
days. The story is in some sense unique to Chicago while at the same time
O
illuminating the general issues in housing the poor around the United States.”
O
—Richard Taub, Paul Klapper Professor, University of Chicago
R
Subsidized
C H
hicago seems an ideal environment for public housing because of the city’s
O
relatively young age among major cities and well-deserved reputation for
U
technology, innovation, and architecture. Yet The Poorhouse: Subsidized
S Housing
Housing in Chicago shows that the city’s experience on the whole has been a
E
negative one, raising serious questions about the nature of subsidized housing
:
and whether we should have it and, if so, in what form. S
Bowly, a native of the city, provides a detailed examination of subsidized hous- u in Chicago
b
ing in the nation’s third-largest city. Now in its second edition, The Poorhouse
s
looks at the history of public housing and subsidized housing in Chicago from id
1895 to the present day. Five new chapters cover the decline and federal takeover i
z
of the Chicago Housing Authority and its more recent “transformation,” which e
d Second Edition
involved demolition of the CHA family high-rise buildings and in some cases
H
their replacement with low-rise mixed-income housing on the same sites. Fifty
o
new photos by sociologist David Schalliol supplement this new edition. u
s
i
n
Devereux Bowly Jr. for many years was an attorney with the
g
Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago. He has published
i
more than three dozen articles on Chicago history and ar- n
chitecture and has been actively involved with community C
Schalliol groups in Chicago, including the Hyde Park Historical Society. hic
d
Davi a
g
o
southern illinois university press
S
www.siupress.com
isbn 0-8093-3052-0 e
c
isbn 978-0-8093-3052-2 o
Cover illustration: A young boy surveys the city from a renovated n
Loomis Homes walkway. Courtesy of David Schalliol d
E
Printed in the United States of America d
i
t
i
o
n
US
no
iveuth
rsity Preern Illin Devereux Bowly Jr.
so
sis
Bowly cvr mech.indd 1 6/13/12 10:18 AM
the poorhouse
THE POORHOUSE
Subsidized Housing in Chicago
Second Edition
Devereux Bowly Jr.
Southern Illinois University Press
Carbondale and Edwardsville
Copyright © 1978 by Southern Illinois University Press
Second edition copyright © 2012 by the Board of Trustees,
Southern Illinois University
All rights reserved. First edition 1978
Second edition 2012
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bowly, Devereux, 1942–
The poorhouse : subsidized housing in Chicago / Devereux
Bowly Jr. — 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: The poorhouse : subsidized housing in Chicago,
1895–1976. c1978.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8093-3052-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 0-8093-3052-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Public housing—Illinois—Chicago—History. I. Title.
HD7304.C4B68 2012
363.5’820977311—dc23 2011049440
ISBN: 978-0-8093-9068-7 (ebook)
ISBN 0-8093-9068-X (ebook)
Printed on recycled paper.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum re-
quirements of American National Standard for Information
Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materi-
als, ansi z39.48-1992.
Contents
Preface to the Second Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
Preface to the First Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
1. Philanthropic Housing Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. Early Public Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3. Chicago Housing Authority: The War Years . . . . . . . .30
4. Chicago Housing Authority: The Middle Years . . . . . . .49
5. Chicago Housing Authority: Years of Turmoil . . . . . . .67
6. Chicago Dwellings Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
7. Chicago Housing Authority: The High-Rise Years . . . . . .98
8. The Community Renewal Foundation and the
Kate Maremont Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
9. Federally Subsidized, Privately Sponsored Housing . . . . 137
10. Chicago Housing Authority: The Fourth Decade . . . . . 162
11. The Illinois Housing Development Authority . . . . . . . 181
12. Chicago Housing Authority: Years of Decline . . . . . . 194
13. Subsidized Housing on Other Fronts . . . . . . . . . . 202
14. Buildup to the Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
15. The Transformation of the Chicago Housing Authority . . 221
Afterword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Preface to the Second Edition
I wrote the original edition of The Poorhouse more than thirty years
ago, covering the period 1895 to 1976, during which philanthropists
and governmental agencies became involved in providing housing for
poor families by constructing public housing and providing various
types of housing subsidies. This second edition attempts to also set out
what has happened over the past three decades, especially as it relates
to the Chicago Housing Authority. It continues to be my belief that an
understanding of the history of subsidized housing is necessary in order
to not repeat mistakes made in the past.
The recent history of the CHA presents a mixed picture. High-rise
family public housing in Chicago was clearly a disaster, and now
those buildings have been largely demolished. Experiments are tak-
ing place with replacement housing on sites previously occupied by
the high rises. They involve market-rate families who pay market
rents or who have purchased their unit at the market price living
side-by-side with deeply subsidized units occupied by poor fami-
lies, as well as housing for moderate-income families. One result
of all this, however, is that the CHA actually has under its control
fewer units of subsidized family housing than it did thirty years ago,
and much of what it does have is in the form of Section 8 vouchers.
What seems to be resulting may be good for the city but not neces-
sarily for its poverty population, especially large families that often
have multiple problems. Those families have little chance of get-
ting units in replacement housing or Section 8 vouchers because of
tougher screening measures now in place, as well as bureaucratic
rules and obstacles.
The situation involving the CHA is a dynamic one. There are no sim-
ple answers to addressing the problem of providing good housing for
poor people. In the 1990s, almost everyone was in favor of demolishing
the high-rise CHA buildings. When it was done, however, it caused
some anticipated and some unanticipated problems. For example, when
Robert Taylor Homes and Stateway Gardens were torn down, many
gang members moved to other projects and added to problems there.
Gang problems at Dearborn Homes and Harold Ickes Homes, just a few
blocks north on State Street, became worse.1
vii
Preface to the Second Edition
The situation was further complicated by the fact that Dearborn
Homes has been retained and rehabilitated, whereas Ickes served as
temporary relocation housing for a few years before its demolition was
completed in 2010. In addition, some observers claim that residents and
unauthorized residents from Robert Taylor Homes moved to the neigh-
borhoods of Roseland and South Shore, for example, and contributed
to crime increases in those communities.
As with the original edition, the scope here is limited to multi-family
developments and Section 8 voucher programs; the subjects of subsi-
dized single-family home ownership and housing for the elderly con-
tinue to warrant their own studies. For the new chapters of the book, I
have been most fortunate to have access to the excellent photographs
of sociologist David Schalliol, which tell their own story.
viii
Preface to the First Edition
Although untold billions of dollars have been spent in this country
over the last half century on subsidized housing, it is a subject that has
received too little attention. The various programs have come and gone
with inadequate evaluation of their social and economic impact. In the
next few years major decisions will have to be made about the direction
of housing in America. Future programs can only be planned intel-
ligently in the context of achievements and failures of past programs.
Chicago makes an ideal subject for a case study of subsidized hous-
ing. Incorporated in 1833, it is one of the youngest of the major cities,
its entire development having occurred during the post–Industrial
Revolution period. It has long been an innovator in the technology of
building, and it is unexcelled in the quality of its architectural design,
yet its experience with subsidized housing has, on the whole, been a
negative one. This raises serious questions as to the very nature of subsi-
dized housing, whether or not we should have it, and if so in what form.
The basic scope of the book is limited to the City of Chicago, and
to multi-family developments. The matter of subsidized single-family
houses is a large subject deserving of its own study. A major focus of
attention here will be housing constructed by governmental agencies,
or with public grants. Projects with subsidized mortgages and rents
will be considered, as will housing as private philanthropic endeavors.
ix
