Chicago’s housing authority voted to lease about 1.7 acres of land to the city’s school district for the construction of a new high school, to the ire of housing advocates who say the agency isn’t doing its job of providing affordable housing.
The Near North Side property at 24th and State streets is the southernmost portion of the former Harold L. Ickes Homes public housing project, which the city demolished in 2010. In exchange for that land, the housing authority will acquire two acres of land across the street.
Much of the former Ickes site is being redeveloped into the 11-acre mixed-income Southbridge campus planned by McCaffery Interests and nonprofit The Community Builders. The conceptual plan for the final phase of that development includes about 75 rental units that would be north of the school and still fit on the site when the land is leased, according to Ann McKenzie, the housing authority’s chief development officer.
Chicago Housing Authority CEO Tracey Scott said the agency felt the deal would benefit residents, who would not be losing rental housing while the neighborhood would gain its first new school in longer than she could remember.
McKenzie said the school would provide recreation and meeting space for public housing residents.
“Strong schools are part of a strong community. We are here to develop community,” she said.
Several people spoke against leasing the land at Tuesday’s CHA board meeting, saying the land should be used to house low-income people.
“Y’all have one job, and that’s to house people who cannot be housed, whose needs cannot be met by the private market,” said Don Washington, director of the Chicago Housing Initiative. “Your job is to house low-income people.”
Others said public housing residents weren’t given enough of an opportunity to weigh in on the plan.
The Chicago City Council approved almost $22 million in public financing for the Southbridge development in 2019. The plan includes 877 rental and for-sale homes and 60,000 square feet of retail space. Also financing the project are a $22 million loan from the Chicago Housing Authority and $40 million from the Illinois Housing Development Authority.
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“Full speed ahead:” City approves millions in public financing for long-awaited Ickes Homes redevelopment