What a contested CHA eviction says about “scattered site” housing

The Chicago Housing Authority notched a small win Tuesday in Cook County court against housing activists living in one of its properties without authorization, even as the case calls into question the organization’s practices surrounding vacant properties known as “scattered site” affordable units.

Those living at the house on North Washtenaw Avenue in Humboldt Park were referred to as “squatters” by CHA’s attorney Colleen Healy during a court hearing regarding a notice of stay filed by the people living at the house in an attempt to continue residing there. Their request, however, was denied by the judge, meaning the residents can have an eviction forced against them.

The issue stems from CHA’s management of what it calls “scattered sites” — individual single-family homes or smaller complexes with a few units. Most of the housing authority’s units are in larger multifamily buildings.

Tenant advocates with an organization called the Humboldt Park Housing Project are working with those who are living at the property and say the case is part of a broader concern about vacant CHA properties: despite years-long waitlists and over 200,000 people trying to get CHA housing, many of these scattered site units are left vacant for long periods of time, adding to the housing crisis.

Humboldt Park Housing Project cites CHA’s 2021 occupancy data to claim CHA owns 2,413 units that were vacant for extended periods, 431 of which are scattered sites. The authority has nearly 2,800 units it considers scattered sites, it says on its website.

“Given that the current residents only invested a couple hundred dollars to make the home livable, it is unclear why the scattered site on Washtenaw and other properties like it are left empty to deteriorate instead of being rehabilitated and made available, often for years at a time,” a press release by the Humboldt Park community organization said.

The Chicago Housing Authority was not able to answer a list of detailed questions by press time, which included inquiries on how many vacant units the CHA has and how many have been vacant for over six months.

During the online hearing, the judge muted one of the people living in the house, Wilson Mather-Glass, who appeared to be representing himself, and said the court would not relitigate the underlying action during Tuesday’s hearing.

According to the Humboldt Park Housing Project, the house had been vacant for over two years prior to the defendants moving into the property. CHA’s former contractor for the Humboldt Park scattered sites, the Hispanic Housing Development Corporation, locked those living at the house out of the property, and three others in the neighborhood, the group said.

The group is asking for vacant housing that CHA isn’t using be turned over to those in the community that need housing.

Those living at the property are now likely facing a formal eviction through Cook County courts, though it’s not yet clear when that would take place.
The legal fight comes after a busy year with litigation for the CHA. In June, three housing organizations filed suit against the authority and the Department of Housing and Urban Development over its land lease agreement with the Chicago Fire. The suit represents the latest outcry in the controversial deal to use land earmarked for affordable housing for a sports training facility.

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