February, 2007

Protest at Chicago HUD office forces negotiations with Midwest director

By The N.E. Illinois Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign

Public housing tenants march on the Chicago HUD office in December. PHOTO/N.E. ILLINOIS PPEHRC

On Dec. 11, 2006, 100 tenants marched on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Chicago headquarters to demand an end to corruption, deteriorating conditions and the displacement of poor people and people of 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. Eight tenant councils representing over 2000 households forced negotiations with Midwest HUD Director Joseph Galvan on Jan. 11, 2007, where they proposed solutions such as tenant self-management and got commitments to address the issues facing public and subsidized housing tenants in Chicago.

Tenants demand that HUD stop giving contracts to slumlords, re-start training and funding for tenant self-management, eliminate hazardous conditions, force disclosure of all operating budgets to tenant councils, and stop the demolition of public housing. At the negotiations, the Washington Scene Tenants Association told of a tenant falling seven floors and a heart patient climbing nine 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 mismanagement 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. "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.

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. "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. "What I think is working is our unity. 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, mismanagement, and displacement of poor people and people of color and for the solution of tenant self-management continues. "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.

"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 a Justice Department investigation into corruption at HUD. "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.