Cities on the housing tour

Chicago residents aren’t the only ones concerned about affordable housing here. The United Nations dispatched Raquel Rolnik, a special rapporteur on housing, to investigate whether the quality and availability of affordable housing are a violation of human rights.

“I have received many complaints of public housing demolitions and no replacements in the same number of units from various parts of the country, but specifically from Chicago,” Rolnik said.

Rolnik, an architect and urban planner, is visiting Chicago and five other U.S. cities to determine whether adequate affordable housing is available.

Community members shared their thoughts on affordable housing with Rolnik in a town hall meeting at Fernwood United Methodist Church in Roseland Tuesday  night, the first day of her three-day stop in Chicago. She is touring the city and meeting with officials and housing advocates.

Herman D. Bonner, president of the National Alliance of HUD Tenants, told Rolnik the displacement of public housing tenants is causing gang-related crime in Chicago public schools and rival neighborhoods.

“Chicago is now experiencing a rash of shootings and murders of Chicago’s public school children and innocent bystanders,” Bonner said. “The school violence can largely attribute to the damage in public subsidized housing. They are moving gangs into other neighborhoods.”

Rolnik, a professor at the University of Sao Paolo, Brazil, was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council in May of last year as an independent expert to examine housing as a component of human rights. She visits cities around the world and serves as a liaison between community and government calling herself “the eyes and ears for the community.”

David Wilson, who attended the town hall, said he was forced out of Robert Taylor Homes before they were demolished in 2007. Wilson, who now lives in private housing, claims the city and Mayor Daley wanted the land to build condos for the rich.

“I’m angry. We were pushed out of our homes because they wanted the property,” Wilson said. “They used all kinds of excuses to get us out.”

Rolnik made one thing clear at the end of the meeting: community problems go beyond housing.

“I think that we are facing not only a housing crisis but a very clear political crisis,” Rolnik said. “The notion of housing is not only shelter, but a really meaningful community with economical opportunities, job opportunities and educational opportunities.”

D. Bradford Hunt, the author of “Blueprint for Disaster: The Unraveling of Chicago Public Housing,” said resident displacement could have been handled better, but public housing conditions are in better shape now compared with a few years ago.

“Residents should have been offered better mobility counseling. I mean don’t just stick people in a van and drive them to Englewood then hand them a voucher," Hunt said. “But as far as physical conditions, things are a lot better than they used to be.”

Rolnik will submit a report to the United Nations General Assembly by the end of 2010 and the UN will present the findings to the U.S. government.