June, 1995, Vol. 1, No.3

Redevelopment in Woodlawn: Who Benefits?
by Natallie Kaiser, second-year student in the Harris Graduate School of Public Policy in the urban policy and inequality concentration.

Valerie Leon, second-year SSA student in the policy concentration.

Steve Ott, second-year SSA student in the policy concentration.

Students immersed in studying social issues at SSA need only look out the back window of our library to see, first hand, one of the largest urban renewal projects in Chicago in thirty years. Over the next 15 years, at least 5,000 new or rehabilitated units of housing will be constructed in Woodlawn, the community just south of the University, and in Kenwood-Oakland, just north of Hyde Park-at a projected cost of $500 million. The housing development is already underway, as are efforts to improve the schools and reduce crime. In contrast to the disinvestment which has characterized the neighborhood for many years, this development sounds like a positive change. However, assessments of its impact are not all optimistic. Thus, as development moves forward, fueled by funds from the City of Chicago and private sources, questions should be raised about the safeguards needed to ensure that current residents can benefit from a process which has, in the past, displaced low-income people in other Chicago neighborhoods. This article will explore these questions through an analysis of Woodlawn, the community closest to SSA.

The Woodlawn community area, as defined by the U. S . Census Bureau, extends from 60th Street on the north to 67th Street on the south and from Stony Island Avenue on the east to Dr. Martin Luther King Drive on the west. In the past two decades, Woodlawn has experienced drastic economic and population decline. Virginia Peoples, who resided in Woodlawn from 1954 to 1968, describes her childhood neighborhood as a vibrant area supporting all the needs of its residents; theaters, bakeries, family physicians, laundries, pharmacies, a florist, and a department store are just some of the many businesses that thrived in Woodlawn. And, according to Ms. Peoples, an active Woodlawn Businessman's Association prevented taverns and liquor stores from opening on the major commercial strip of Woodlawn. She also recalls the area as racially and ethnically diverse. Census data affirms that in 1950 the racial composition was 60% white and 38% African American, but by 1990 only 3.2% of the population was white and 96% African American.

Now, the sites of many of the former Woodlawn businesses are vacant or abandoned. Some sources suggest that 40% of the property in northern Woodlawn is now vacant, and of that, 50% is owned by the City. According to the Local Community Fact Book, between 1970 and 1980, Woodlawn lost 6,437 units of housing to demolition, abandonment and arson. In 1990, Woodlawn had 13,109 units of housing,20% of which were vacant and two thirds of which were renter occupied. Woodlawn's residents are plagued by gang and drug activities, crime and lack of safe affordable housing. In 1990 the population of Woodlawn was 27,473, a decline of 40% from 53,814 in 1970. Children under 18 make up a significant portion of the community,46%, as do the elderly, 16% . In 1990, 37% of the population lived below the poverty line and the median household income was $13,680, just over half of Chicago's median income of $26,301. Only 35 percent of adults held a job in 1990, and 54.6% of all households were receiving public assistance.

Community-based organizations such as Woodlawn East Community and Neighbors (WECAN), The Woodlawn Organization (TWO), and Covenant Development Corporation have been working for years with limited resources to improve the quality of life for Woodlawn residents. But recently, several factors have dramatically increased the flow of resources into Woodlawn providing momentum for major redevelopment: increased attention from the City through Redevelopment Area designations; a cooperative relationship between the University of Chicago and development entities; establishment of the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corporation (WPIC) and the Fund for Community Redevelopment and Revitalization (the Fund); construction of the $12 million Apostolic Church of God; new Cole Taylor and First Chicago Bank branches; and most recently, inclusion of the northern portion of Woodlawn in the City of Chicago's Empowerment Zone which received federal approval this winter. This new influx of resources certainly signals the likelihood of redevelopment and of middle class families moving back into the neighborhood. However, it also raises questions about whether Woodlawn's current residents will have a voice m the changes that are taking place and whether they will be able to afford to stay in the neighborhood as property values rise. Who will benefit from the neighborhood's redevelopment- new, middleincome residents at the expense of current lowincome residents or will development take place in such a way that everyone will share in the positive outcomes?

In 1992, the City of Chicago designated the northern portion of Woodlawn as a Redevelopment Are including the section from 61st Street to 64th Street between Cottage Grove and Drexel Avenues on the west to Dorchester and Kenwood Avenues on the east. Neighborhoods designated as Redevelopment Areas are considered to be "blighted or deteriorating" and are deemed by Chicago's municipal code to have property that is "detrimental to public safety, health, morals, welfare, or economic stability." The designation gives the City authority to implement a comprehensive Redevelopment Plan that can include such actions as acquiring property, relocating occupants, demolishing deteriorating structures, and disposing of land for public and private development. If the City acquires property through this plan, it is responsible for relocating individuals who are displaced by the acquisition.

Shortly after designation of the Woodlawn Redevelopment Area, Mayor Richard J. Daley appointed Bishop Arthur Brazier, Pastor of the Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn, to head up the Fund for Community Redevelopment and Revitalization. The Fund was designed to facilitate a coordinated approach to the planning and implementation for the redevelopment project under consideration. According to Fund board member Jonathan Kleinbard, the University of Chicago Vice President of University News and Community Affairs, this unusual arrangement resulted from suggestions made by the University, not-for-profit developers in Woodlawn, and the City's Departments of Planning and Development and Housing. This atypical group of collaborators came to the conclusion that the project could only work if competition for scarce resources among independent community-based organizations was reduced by establishing one organization to act as a conduit for funding and as a coordinator of redevelopment efforts.

Financial resources for this effort have come from a variety of organizations. The MacArthur Foundation provided a $1.2 million grant. The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) came through with $750,000 for land acquisition, and the University of Chicago has guaranteed two loans- one to the Fund and one to WPIC, often described as the Fund's "development arm." On April 15, 1995 a Tribune article estimated that the City has "pumped $15 million" into the Redevelopment Area over the last two years in the form of land giveaways and subsidies, in addition to development and rent subsidies. And there appear to be other foundation grants on the horizon.

Though the Fund's sixteen member board does include six community residents, the majority are influential representatives of other Woodlawn organizations, the city's Community Development Commission, the Urban League, and the University of Chicago. Critics of this arrangement from the Chicago Rehab Network expressed concern that it is neither community-based nor community-controlled and that it limits involvement in redevelopment decisions to a "small set of favored developers." While the Apostolic Church of God is located in Woodlawn, according to community residents, the congregation is composed primarily of middle and upper income parishioners living outside of Woodlawn. However, Victor Knight, the Fund's Executive Director, asserts that the Fund's role as coordinator does not mean that it interferes with the mission or plans of other community developers. "Coordination means that it all fits. I think there is a need for what all the groups- Covenant, TWO, and WECAN-are doing. We are like a traffic cop or a clearinghouse." When asked if other developers had to come through the Fund to get land and funding, Knight replied that was "nonsense."

Opinion is divided over the meaning of neighborhood redevelopment. For example, to focus on funding, Knight replied that was "nonsense."

Opinion is divided over the meaning of neighborhood redevelopment. For example, to focus on investment in people residing in a neighborhood is different than revitalizing a geographic area. Also, there is no agreement on a proven method of neighborhood redevelopment. Experts tend to argue over the importance of job creation, affordable housing, social services, and the deconcentration of the poor. The Fund's approach in Woodlawn currently focuses on housing creation that will attract higher income residents to the community. Recently Bishop Brazier explained their philosophy in an interview with the Chicago Tribune when he said, "The only way any community will survive or remain viable is if it is made up of mixed-income families. We already know conglomerates of poor people isn't the answer. Look at Cabrini Green."

These development efforts to attract middleincome families fall under three general strategies. First, plans to build over 300 units of single family housing were inaugurated with the Plaisance Place development along 61st Street. Eight of the 28 houses, selling for $140,000 have been completed and sold, and eight more are under construction. In addition, a New Homes for Chicago project along Kenwood Avenue will build 51 single family homes selling for approximately $95,000, and Victor Knight explained that they plan to build many cheaper town houses and condominiums. Second, the Fund and WPIC have followed the Hyde Park/University Police model and have retained a Law Enforcement Officer to work with block clubs and the District Commander of the Chicago Police Department toward increased public safety. One critical role played by this officer is victim assistance- supporting crime victims as they go through the intimidating process of pressing charges against local offenders. Finally, the Fund is initiating plans to improve Woodlawn's public schools. Taken together it is hoped that attractive and relatively affordable, single-family housing, reduced crime, and better schools will help draw middle-income residents.

Mattie Butler, a long-time Woodlawn resident and executive director of Woodlawn East Community and Neighbors (WECAN), is concerned about the Fund's authority in the community as well as their ties to powerful entities like the University and the City. This mistrust appears to stem from the University's historic involvement in the community, particularly in the 1960s when the University attempted to obtain properties and expand the campus southward into Woodlawn, but was stopped by community organizing efforts. However, Jonathan Kleinbard asserts that the University no longer has control over any land in Woodlawn. In addition, according to Butler, every development project in Woodlawn has to "go through the Fund" as directed by Marina Carrott of the Department of Housing (DOH). Yet, community input has not been required for the Fund's projects until recently. At Butler's initiation, as of March 1995 any new projects will now need to be reviewed by a newly formed committee that includes aldermanic representation, TWO, WECAN, and a community person from each block in the Redevelopment Area. She hopes that this kind of community involvement in the development process will prevent or reduce the likelihood of displacement. In addition, WECAN has formed an agreement with TWO, another local developer, to make displacement prevention a priority.

The Fund maintains that displacement of current Woodlawn residents is not an issue because the development is taking place on vacant land and through the rehabilitation of vacant buildings. Victor Knight's assessment of all the concern about displacement is that it is "much ado about nothing." "Some folks want to use the big University encroaching on the community as a whipping boy. That may have been true in the 60s, but the U of C has no master plan to remove black people from the neighborhood. There is no conspiracy lurking here. We are too sophisticated out here for that these days." The Fund is developing affordable rental housing for lowincome residents-WPIC has rehabilitated 621 apartments that are as cheap or cheaper than market rate rents in Woodlawn and 86 more are in the pipeline. The Fund is also working with the Cook County Assessor's Office to create a plan so that expensive housing will not increase property values to the extent that elderly homeowners on fixed incomes cannot afford their property taxes. Knight also said that much of the work which does not make headlines involves helping current homeowners get home improvement loans and helping renters, who do not think they can afford to own a home, take advantage of the programs which make home ownership possible.

Still, WECAN's position is understandable, given the gentrification and displacement that has occurred in Chicago neighborhoods and urban areas throughout the nation. Additionally, the Fund's plans do not appear to fully address the effect of the "indirect displacement" that occurs when landlords respond to market demand by raising rents, property owners convert apartments to condominiums and renters can no longer afford to live in an area. Also, as the neighborhood becomes upscale the City could enforce building code violations more aggressively. If this occurs and no plan is in place, landlords who provide low-rent units or current homeowners might be unable to make improvements and will be shut down. This may be viewed as positive in terms of physical neighborhood improvement, but it would reduce the housing available to current low and very low income residents. Long time resident Marcia Dean states that "many residents are afraid because they don't know what is going to happen." This point was supported in a recent report by the Center for the Study of Urban Inequality at the University of Chicago which found that less than half, 41%, of Woodlawn residents surveyed were even aware of the redevelopment efforts. Dean doesn't trust that they will benefit from redevelopment unless they are vocal and assertive. For example, she notes that the construction that has taken place so far has not employed Woodlawn residents.

Fortunately, the development activity of groups like TWO, WECAN and Covenant could ideally complement the work of the Fund, by facilitating redevelopment benefits for current residents. For example, WECAN is in the process of developing affordable SRO housing with onsite services for credit counseling and human resources. In discussing her objectives, Butler focuses on the importance of "human development" in addition to bricks and mortar. The Fund's Victor Knight expressed his support for this kind of project when he said, "we believe there is room for everybody in Woodlawn, and we are trying to facilitate that."

What Woodlawn illustrates most clearly are the challenges involved in revitalizing a neighborhood. In addition to addressing multiple issues like housing, public safety, and school improvement, simultaneously-the success of such an effort is highly dependent on community participation. Yet, inclusion tends to require an enormous investment of time and energy- luxuries that may not seem feasible when funders and stakeholders are awaiting results. But if displacement is to be avoided, this sense of urgency must be balanced with the reality that the problems in Woodlawn have taken over 30 years to evolve and cannot be corrected immediately-particularly when there is no proven formula for achieving this goal. Moreover, efforts geared toward job creation and school improvement must be moved up on the agenda as the process continues. Clearly this is a lot to ask. Perhaps by expanding the channels for resident input, the tasks involved in meeting these challenges will be more evenly divided among local leadership, thereby increasing resident's sense of ownership and ultimately, the plan's chances at unprecedented success. After all, as Mattie Butler says, "Community members don't want to inhibit the process [of redevelopment], they just want to have the pleasure of being there when things improve."

Steve Ott is a second-year SSA student in the Policy concentration.
His field placement is with the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development.

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