One impediment to developing affordable housing in Chicago has been the City’s antiquated building code, portions of which haven’t kept pace with improvements in building techniques and materials. As a result, it is more expensive to renovate housing in Chicago…
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Some two years after CHA and BPI reached a legal agreement, CHA is poised to begin more significant development of new and renovated community facilities in Altgeld Gardens. In addition to the rehabilitation of 218 Altgeld public housing apartments, the…
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The Chicago Housing Authority and BPI reached an agreement in federal court Thursday that calls for CHA to develop on Chicago’s North Side 525 family public housing units that will not be replaced on site as part of the proposed…
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As the construction start date for mixed income redevelopment of Lathrop Homes approaches, most likely in early 2017, BPI is involved in activities to ensure that public housing units not being replaced on the site itself are replaced instead in…
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BPI had a significant milestone to reflect on this year: It was 50 years ago, as a volunteer attorney for the ACLU, that BPI Senior Staff Counsel Alex Polikoff filed the landmark Gautreaux litigation against CHA and HUD, which ultimately…
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BPI’s landmark Gautreaux case is one focus of an inspiring 15-minute documentary produced for The New York Times by the independent news organization Retro Report. The film looks back on the history of the case—including the first Supreme Court opinion…
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Today is an important day for BPI—the 50th anniversary of the filing of the Gautreaux case on August 9, 1966. Gautreaux resulted in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that stands as a milestone in combating racial discrimination in public…
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This week’s Crain’s Chicago Business featured a thoughtful story on housing mobility, quoting BPI’s own Alex Polikoff. The story focuses on a rule change currently under consideration by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development that will help more families…
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To help the many Chicago-region communities grappling with myriad problems posed by vacant and abandoned buildings as well as new foreclosure filings, BPI and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus have released a new publication, Vacant Building Ordinances: Strategies for Confronting Vacant…
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Ida B. Wells fought for black civil rights and women’s rights, and crusaded against lynching during a particularly cruel time in American history. Born into slavery in 1862 in Mississippi, Wells surmounted great obstacles to become a distinguished teacher, journalist,…
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