Under a hot sun, 90 degree temperatures and 70 percent humidity, 1,000 people marched on city hall to call out Mayor Daley and the Chicago Department of housing on the lack of affordable housing in Chicago. The event was organized by the Balanced Development Coalition and demanded that the city council pass an inclusionary housing ordinance.

The ordinance would put into affect regulations requiring new construction and large rehabs to set-aside thirty percent of units for affordable housing.

The group, composed of ten other coalitions spread across the city, sees the ordinance as a step to reversing the loss of affordable housing stock in Chicago. The diverse crowd of 1,000 women, children and men lent their voices to the chorus that echoed up the financial district on LaSalle Street.

The march began at 10:15 outside of the Department of Housing offices at 319 S. Michigan. Bus after bus unloaded residents from Logan Square, Albany Park and Garfield Park. The group assembled to a strength of 800 as they began to march east on Adams towards LaSalle.

"We're here, we're there- we're stronger by the hour. The community is in the house- and now we got the power," rang the chant as it drifted over men in suits whose idea of affordable housing is $1,500 a month. People looked up from selecting fruit at the Federal Plaza farmers market as the six-block-long procession worked its way along the sidewalk to LaSalle and then north.

By the time the end of the march had reached city hall it connected with the head of the march that had just completed its first lap around.

The procession passed by the Thompson center plaza where 200 more people, many from Metro Seniors in Action, decided to hold a welcoming rally for the people who had marched up from 318 S. Michigan.

Organizers told the police of their intention to send a delegation up to the fifth floor mayor's office and demand to speak with Daley. As a result, the first group got up but then the police and security shut down the elevators going to the floor. More activists made it up to the office by other means.

Outside of Daley's office, eight armed officers stood behind a tension barrier as 45 activists waited to see if the mayor would meet with them. In the group there was 15 children who helped put a strong social context of the effects of the housing crisis. As children are uprooted and move, the disruption in structure and school has a negative affect on education and social interaction.

A representative of the mayor's press office came out and regretfully informed the organizers that the mayor was booked and they would have to make an appointment. That's something they have been trying to do for the past year.

Not a group to just stand around and wait, the crowd broke into song. An unforeseen result of the architect's use of gloss marble and high ceilings is that 45 people can get as loud as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but with a lot more gospel flavor. The congregation broke into a revamped version of 'I want to teach the world to sing.'

Outside, the amassment that had been circling city hall moved to Thompson center plaza across the street. There speakers told of the changes that have been taking place in there neighborhoods and how many people have been forced out because of higher rents and taxes. Speaker after speaker challenged Mayor Daley to do something about it and pass a set-aside ordinance.

The interests that need to be overcome are daunting ones. So far the ordinance idea has few supporters in the city council and no one has sponsored it. Daley has come out strongly against any set-aside regulation claiming it would cause a plummet in development. So the question becomes what amount of community pressure will have to be applied to get the issue on the table. One thousand people sharing their stories and discussing a possible solution is a heck of a start