Coalition of Community-Based Organizations Sue HUD and CHA for Plan to Turn Public Housing Land into Soccer Team’s Training Facility
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2023
CONTACT:
Zindy Marquez
Director of Communications
Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
312.202.3657 (office)
Coalition of Community-Based Organizations Sue HUD and CHA for Plan to Turn Public Housing Land into Soccer Team’s Training Facility
CHICAGO, IL: The Coalition to Protect CHA Land, Chicago Housing Initiative, and Lugenia Burns Hope Center today filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) approval of the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA) plan to lease 23 acres of public housing land for the construction of a sports training facility. This land at Roosevelt Square, a rapidly gentrifying area close to meaningful job opportunities, good schools, and convenient public transportation, would be leased to the Chicago Fire. This plan violates CHA’s fair housing obligations. In its rush to approval, HUD failed to consider the civil rights implications of approving this project. Worse still, the plan was rushed through a prior administration in an election year when the incoming Chicago mayor, Brandon Johnson, publicly opposed the disposition of public housing land for private uses.
Chicago is facing an affordable housing crisis, which disproportionately affects low-income Black families and people with disabilities. Instead of addressing this crisis by expanding affordable and accessible housing projects, CHA is actively disposing of land that has always been designated for public housing. The CHA plans to lease 23 acres of land at the former ABLA Homes development on the City’s near west side for the next sixty years to a soccer team owned by billionaire Joe Mansueto.
“It’s a shame that in order to get the government to work for low-income and working families, we have to sue. And this billionaire didn’t have to lift a finger to get public housing land for his private endeavor. The city sought him out,” said Rod Wilson, executive director of the Lugenia Burns Hope Center. “We hope that with this lawsuit, there begins some accountability with CHA and HUD. All the things wrong with CHA over the past decades have been due to lack of oversight and accountability from HUD. HUD has been complicit in the mismanagement of CHA and as a result, the displacement and destruction of Black families.”
Before approving this proposal, HUD was required to conduct a civil rights review and determine whether the plan complied with civil rights laws and would further CHA’s obligation to affirmatively further fair housing. HUD ignored that legal obligation.
"Rather than conducting the required civil rights review, HUD violated its mandate to follow and enforce civil rights laws. The Coalition presented HUD an analysis of the impacts this proposal would have on Black families and people with disabilities and urged HUD to reject the deal. Shamefully, HUD abdicated this responsibility and rushed to approve this deal,” said Emily Coffey, director of equitable community development and housing at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.
The Coalition and community groups, through their attorneys at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, National Housing Law Project and Legal Action Chicago, presented HUD with evidence that CHA’s proposal would exacerbate the affordable housing crisis and perpetuate racial segregation by depriving low-income Black families and individuals with disabilities of the opportunity to live in a neighborhood with easy access many resources.
“CHA should be creating new housing for the thousands of families in need in Chicago – but instead they gave up valuable public land to a billionaire and his soccer team,” said Kate Walz, associate director of litigation of the National Housing Law Project. “To add insult to injury, HUD evaded its own civil rights obligations by approving this deal at the expense of low-income Black households and persons with disabilities.”
HUD violated its own administrative procedures by ignoring this evidence and rushing to approve the plan before Mayor Brandon Johnson, who campaigned on a promise to hold CHA accountable by “immediately enacting a freeze on the transfer of CHA land to non-housing uses,” could assume office.
“HUD was created to carry out the federal commitment to housing people no market can house. The CHA is not housing enough people. Instead, it’s trading land for cash while not using the money it has to produce promised units or maintain its existing housing. HUD needs to step in and compel the CHA to do its job,” said Don Washington, executive director of the Chicago Housing Initiative.
The Coalition to Protect CHA Land, Chicago Housing Initiatives and Lugenia Burns Hope Center are represented in the lawsuit by Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, National Housing Law Project, and Legal Action Chicago, as well as attorneys from the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, who recently settled a federal lawsuit that challenged CHA’s implementation of its minimum rent policy. Read today’s complaint here.
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Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights is a non-partisan, non-profit group of civil rights lawyers and advocates working to secure racial equity and economic opportunity for all. We provide legal representation through partnerships with the private bar, and we collaborate with grassroots organizations and other advocacy groups to implement community-based solutions that advance civil rights. For more information, visit www.clccrul.org or call (312) 630-9744.
National Housing Law Project
The National Housing Law Project’s mission is to advance housing justice for poor people and communities. We achieve this by strengthening and enforcing the rights of tenants and low-income homeowners, increasing housing opportunities for underserved communities, and preserving and expanding the nation’s supply of safe and affordable homes. For more information, visit www.nhlp.org.
Legal Action Chicago
Legal Action Chicago uses law and policy advocacy to promote quality of life and economic justice for low-income families and advance equity for people of color and people with disabilities.
The Coalition to Protect CHA Land
The Coalition to Protect CHA Land is a partnership of community organizations including Chicago Housing Initiative, Lugenia Burns Hope Center, Access Living, Metropolitan Tenants Organization, Pilsen Alliance, Working Family Solidarity, the Bethel Mennonite Community Church, and individuals who work with and empower public housing residents to fight for their rights while protecting and improving their existing housing. The Coalitions purpose is to address the increasing frequency and severity of CHA’s land transfers to non-housing uses.
The Chicago Housing Initiative
The Chicago Housing Initiative is a Chicago-based non-profit and member-based coalition with a mission to amplify the power of low-income Chicago residents to preserve, improve, and expand low-cost rental housing, stabilize communities facing displacement, and advance racial and economic equity and inclusion across all of Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods.
The Lugenia Burns Hope Center
The Lugenia Burns Hope Center is a Chicago-based non-profit dedicated to developing the civic engagement of residents in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, and in other communities throughout the City of Chicago. The Hope Center does this work through education, leadership development, and community organizing.