CBA Coalition statement on housing-ordinance victory
After five years of hard-fought struggle, the Obama CBA Coalition and allies have won an agreement on the CBA Housing Ordinance. This is one of the most significant and aggressive affordable housing policies won in Chicago’s recent memory. As it stands, this ordinance has the potential to stop the displacement of thousands of low-income and working-class Black residents who live near the future Obama Presidential Center.
This comes at a time when we find ourselves facing crises on multiple fronts: the health and economic crises of COVID-19, and the crisis of systemic racism. Systemic racism put nearly 10,000 Black people at risk of being pushed out of Woodlawn, the neighborhood home to the imminent Obama Presidential Center. The same people who are essential to our city in the fight to survive COVID-19 are also many of the folks who make less than $50,000 a year. They are restaurant workers, homecare workers, grocery clerks, and delivery drivers. As Woodlawn residents continue to fight for their lives in this pandemic, this ordinance comes as a welcome reprieve in the fight to keep a roof over their heads.
The CBA Housing Ordinance will set aside 52 vacant lots for real affordable housing; it will create a rehab program to preserve real affordable housing; it will give tenants the first right to purchase their homes if its owner decides to sell; it will provide grant money to help working class homeowners make repairs; and it will provide grant money for working-class people to access home-ownership. Make no mistake, this ordinance is not perfect; it does not answer all of our demands. The city is aware that there are still amendments that we will continue to push, such as a right to return. This amendment will allow recently displaced Woodlawn residents to be given preference for newly-built affordable units on City land in Woodlawn.
Unfortunately, we know the fight is not over. COVID-19 has laid bare the inequities in our communities. The fight to stop displacement and evictions is bigger than one city ordinance can tackle. We need broader and deeper affordable-housing set-asides on new development. We need to lift the ban on rent control and, at this moment, we need to cancel rent and mortgages for the most vulnerable. Our neighbors in South Shore and Washington Park continue to face the threat of displacement as a consequence to the upcoming Obama Presidential Center. Mega-developments across the city such as “The 78”, have the potential to cause devastating displacement for working class families, as developments like “The 606” already have. In fact, just yesterday, Mayor Lightfoot used emergency powers to introduce a “Landmark Ordinance” which we recognize as an attack on working-class families in Pilsen. We continue to stand in solidarity with those organizing to stop the displacement of low income and working-class people of color in Chicago and across the nation. We hope that our Ordinance serves as inspiration to those who continue in the struggle against displacement. Let our victory be a spark to ignite and strengthen your cause.
Today, we celebrate! This is a win for The People. This victory shows that organizing works — that the people can win in their communities. This ordinance is the fruit of five years of marches, petitions, canvassing, and direct actions like Lightfoot’s Tent City. It is the result of teach-ins, hundreds of meetings, phone calls, and emails. It is the result of participatory politics, getting the ordinance on the ballot and mobilizing hundreds to vote in support of it. It is also the result of having a fierce advocate in city hall, Alderwoman Jeannette Taylor. She ran on the platform of fighting displacement and delivered on her promises. This victory is also a victory for Black lives in America. Chicago is one of the last major American cities still home to the Black working-class and low-income families whose labor helped build this city. We will continue to fight for families to stay. We will continue to fight for investment in our communities. We will continue to make Black lives matter. When we fight for investment in our communities, we can win. Let's keep fighting, and if we don’t get it: shut it down, if we - don't - get - it, shut - it - down!
