News

August

2010

210,000 families apply to wait for public housing; less than one-fifth will get on the list

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More than 200,000 families recently responded to an opportunity to gain a slot on the Chicago Housing Authority’s wait list for public housing. Sixty thousand registrations alone poured in on the first day of the four-week application period. The CHA will use a lottery system to select 40,000 qualifying applicants who will be placed on a list from which the CHA draws to fill available housing units.

With the wait list closed for more than 10 years, the CHA conducted a sweeping education campaign leading up to the reopening and advertised it widely, including on social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. The agency also went to great lengths to prepare for the likely deluge of applications.

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August

2010

CHA residents gain in housing and safety, still struggle with health and jobs, research finds

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Chicago Housing Authority residents’ lives have improved considerably as a result of the city’s 15-year Plan for Transformation of public housing begun in 1999, according to seven new research briefs issued by the Urban Institute.

Between 2000 and 2009, the Urban Institute followed 198 families relocated from the Ida B. Wells and Madden Park developments (“Madden-Wells”) – now demolished as part of the Plan but formerly one of the CHA’s largest developments.

Nearly 85 percent of respondents reports living in significantly improved housing situations, and many also say their neighborhoods are safer and that they feel less anxious. Yet physical and mental health problems still abound, contributing to employment troubles.

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July

2010

Social Innovation Fund grants $7.7 million to National Fund for Workforce Solutions to expand assistance; Opportunity Chicago is one of 23 National Fund sites

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The National Fund for Workforce Solutions, with its implementation partner Jobs for the Future (JFF), has been awarded a two-year $7.7 million dollar grant from the Corporation for National and Community Services under its Social Innovation Fund in Washington, DC. Opportunity Chicago is one of 23 local sites of the National Fund, and is working in Chicago to help 5,000 public-housing residents prepare for and find employment over five years, as well as to improve the public workforce development system so that it can better serve low-skilled, low-income job seekers.

Partnering with JFF, the National Fund, collaborating with nine national and 200 local and regional funders, will expand its assistance to at least 23,000 additional participants over three years in 24 high-need communities, while at the same time addressing the critical skill needs of more than 1,000 employers. The funds will dramatically increase economic opportunities for disadvantaged workers and jobseekers through investments in regional workforce collaboratives that partner with employers to identify jobs and career pathways in high-growth industries.

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