Housing Advocates Ask U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to Reject Chicago Housing Authority’s Deal with Chicago Fire Soccer Team
On December 12th, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee, Legal Action Chicago, and National Housing Law Project submitted a letter of objection on behalf of community partner organizations to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in response to Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA) application to dispose of public housing land for a Chicago Fire practice facility on the Near West Side. Read our previous statement on this issue here.
About two decades ago, CHA demolished the ABLA housing complex and displaced thousands of low-income families to racially segregated communities. For years, CHA promised those displaced families they could return to new or rehabilitated housing in their former neighborhood. While the community surrounding ABLA has continued to gentrify, to date, CHA has delivered less than a third of the promised new replacement ABLA units. If HUD approves CHA's plan, the Chicago Fire Football Club would take over 25 acres of public housing land for its practice facility when the city is facing an affordable housing crisis. The Near West Side, where the ABLA housing complex once stood, is a neighborhood with access to many opportunities and resources. By allowing this land dedicated for public housing to be used for a private Chicago Fire Practice Facility, the city and CHA are perpetuating segregation and continuing the trajectory of pushing out Black Chicagoans in violation of civil rights laws.
“The ABLA community is surrounded by world class healthcare facilities, the University of Illinois at Chicago, a booming retail district, and significant public transportation options. This land presents an opportunity to start to reduce the pervasive racial segregation that Chicago is known for,” said Emily Coffey, Senior Counsel and Director of Equitable Community Development and Housing at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. “Instead, the City and CHA’s actions here are part of a broader pattern and practice of blocking affordable housing in white and gentrifying communities rather than pursuing every available opportunity to create affordable, accessible housing. HUD must intervene to block this proposal from moving forward.”
Read Chicago Lawyers’ Committee’s objection letter sent in partnership with Legal Action Chicago and the National Housing Law Project on behalf of the Chicago Housing Initiative and Lugenia Burns Hope Center.