On December 11th, 2006, 100 tenants marched on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Chicago headquarters to demand an end to corruption, deteriorating conditions and the displacement of poor people and people color out of Chicago. The protest was organized by the Coalition to Protect Public Housing (CPPH) and the Student/Tenant Organizing Project (STOP), who have formed the N.E. Illinois Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign. 8 tenant councils representing over 2000 people forced negotiations with the Bush-appointed Midwest Regional Director of HUD, Joseph Galvan on January 11th, where they proposed solutions such as tenant self-management and got commitments to address the issues facing public and subsidized housing tenants in Chicago.

For years a handful of slumlords have dominated the business of public and subsidized housing in Chicago. Politically-connected developers make millions pushing the poor out of the city. Owners and managers collect millions in federal funds and skimp on repairs to maximize profits (ex. Elzie Higginbottom/East Lake Management, Leon Finney/The Woodlawn Organization). Private developers carry a “Plan for Transformation” that is displacing tens of thousands more public housing residents than it is re-housing (ex. Dan McLean/The Habitat Company, Allison Davis/Davis Group). All use clout at City Hall, at the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), at major institutions like the University of Chicago and at HUD to continue profiting off mis-management and displacement. “HUD’s neglect of our communities is akin to the travesty and injustice that the people of New Orleans suffered from Katrina. Their inability to do anything has devastated our communities just as government inaction during Katrina devastated New Orleans,” says Charles Price of CPPH.

Tenants from STOP and CPPH have been living and fighting the effects of this cycle of corruption. HUD stands by while incompetent managers let conditions deteriorate and condo conversions or demolitions displace tenants. A solution to this is tenant self-management, but it’s funding and support is under attack by both the government and the private contractors whose profits it threatens.

Tenants demand that HUD stop giving contracts to slumlords, re-start training and funding for tenant management, end all hazardous conditions, force disclosure of all operating budgets to tenant councils, and stop the demolition of public housing. “HUD needs to stop giving these slumlords contracts, they steady givin’ them out and they just squander the money. Our main goal is that all the residents need to be at the table. If tenants control our own buildings, then the responsibility is ours, and we can do better,” says Lonnie Richardson of STOP and the Grove Parc Tenants Association.

The January 11th negotiations with HUD Midwest Director Mr. Galvan were an important step forward. “We got the meeting with HUD due to a massive display of organized power from the joining together of subsidized and public housing residents. People always say that poor black people can’t come together but this was a display of power and we didn’t need our so-called leaders to come out and advocate for us, we did this for ourselves,” says Ebonee Stevenson, an organizer with STOP and leader of the Kimbark Tenants Association.

At the meeting, tenants addressed specific and
systemic issues. The Washington Scene Tenants
Association told of a tenant falling seven floors and a heart patient climbing 9 flights of stairs on foot because of broken elevators. The Cabrini Rowhouse Council denounced the non-renewal of their tenant management contract and demanded its restoration.

Grove Parc tenants explained how mis-management has led to the threat of foreclosure and displacement and demanded HUD let tenants decide the complex’s fate. The Kimbark Tenants Association and Lake Park East Tenants Association told of being denied their right to an on-site meeting space. Evergreen Terrace and Drexel Court tenants addressed repairs concerns such as falling ceilings. After hearing these testimonies, CPPH organizer Willie Flemming concluded that HUD has “failed the tenants by allowing corruption to exist within these various housing authorities. How do HUD endorse a plan for public housing when subsidized housing is being plagued by problematic officials? How do we ensure a stable life for our families if the system we moving into is unstable?”

“We showed HUD we mean business. Mr. Galvan shouldn’t worry about the bus we brought down, he should worry about the next time, when there will be buses if our issues aren’t resolved,” says Carol Steele, co-founder of CPPH. Among other things, tenants made Mr. Galvan commit to personally visit all properties with tenant association representatives, ask all owners to turn over their operating budgets to tenants, and resolve all dangerous and hazardous conditions within 30 days.

“There are rules and regulations HUD needs to abide by and I want some action to be taken. This is until people’s housing needs are met. We have solidarity and we’re sticking together,” says Ms. Steele.

“What I think is working is our unity. I’m real proud to say I am a part of this because we’re getting’ smart in the hood. This man was learning from us, he don’t really know what’s happening from behind that big desk of his,” says Stephanie Campbell of the Grove Parc Tenants Association.

The struggle against corruption, mis-management, and displacement of poor people and people of color and for the solution of tenant self-management continues. “Enough is enough. The next step is to hold our political officials accountable. We said to HUD, if nothing happens here we plan on taking this all the way to Washington,” said Mr. Richardson. To keep up the pressure, the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign is requesting an investigation by the Justice Department into corruption at HUD. “Galvan is just a small piece of the bigger picture. We need Congress to stop cutting money from the HUD budget and to re-institute money for programs that will train tenants to manage and take ownership of the properties. We live in and are concerned about every aspect of these property, from repairs to screening to security, so why not turn it over directly to us? To really solve our problems, we have to address this as part of a larger war on the poor. There aren’t living wage jobs or adequate social services and the few services poor people have are being cut off. The only way to stop it is for poor people ourselves to organize and use our power,” says Ms. Stevenson.