After a five year investigation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is calling out Chicago for its unjust ways. The regional director of HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Lon Meltesen, released a letter saying the city’s Council members’ instrumental in creating Chicago’s patterns of segregation.” A pattern developed when the city allowed aldermanic prerogative to limit affordable housing.
HUD’s Investigation
The federal investigation started in November 2018, after the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance, along with nine other advocacy groups, filed a complaint with HUD. Furthermore, in their complaint they cited that city Council members had “unfettered power over zoning, land use, city lots and public financing in order to decide where, if and how affordable housing is built in their wards.” An accusation that HUD felt was true.
Moreover, the complaint stated the aldermanic prerogative has been an issue for decades in all 50 wards. Subsequently, the housing veto’s resulted in discriminatory treatment, especially of Black and Latino households. Additionally, this practice is also known as aldermanic privilege, and gives aldermen the power to veto over:
- Zoning.
- Land use.
- Sale of city land.
- And public financing for projects in their wards.
Meaning, alderman were able to hide behind local zoning advisory councils as they voted nay on allowing new housing developments to be built in predominantly white neighborhoods. Subsequently, these discriminatory actions violated the civil rights of people seeking adequate housing.
A Letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s People
In a letter to Mayor Johnson’s administration, Meltesen shared what HUD’s investigation discovered.
The department’s investigation indicates that the city affords each of its 50 wards a local veto over proposals to build affordable housing and that many majority-white wards use the local veto to block, deter or downsize such proposals. As a result, new affordable housing is rarely, if ever, constructed in the majority-white wards that have the least affordable housing.
While HUD’s investigation has yet to close, Meltesen felt it was important to let Mary Richardson-Lowry, Johnson’s top City Hall lawyer, know of its findings so far. Especially, since the discovery raises major red flags about Chicago’s compliance with federal rights laws.
Furthermore, Meltesen stated that the city has acknowledged “this effect of the practice, its historical use for the purpose of creating and maintaining patterns of racial segregation and its continued use as a tool that effectuates racially motivated opposition to affordable housing.”
The Truth Comes Out
Chicago Fair Housing Alliance co-executive director, Patrica Fron, told the Sun-Times that HUD’s findings gave weight to the data they shared in their complaint. Unfortunately, this is not the first time HUD has called the city out on its discriminatory practices.
Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot signed a binding agreement with the agency over a housing discrimination case. In this case, plans to move the General Iron scrap-metal operation to the Southeast Side met opposition.
Moreover, HUD felt the city had violated the rights of residents of those Black and Latino areas by relocating relocating polluting businesses from white communities. A violation that HUD felt showed the city “continued a broader policy of shifting polluting activities from white neighborhoods to Black and Hispanic neighborhoods despite the latter already experiencing a disproportionate burden of environmental harms.”
Looking Ahead
Now, it is up to Johnson and his administrations to sit down with the agency to discuss how to fix these decades long civil rights violations. Subsequently, another issue Johnson took on when he was elected Mayor of Chicago.
By Sheena Robertson
Sources:
Chicago Sun-Times: HUD accuses city of Chicago of environmental racism by moving polluters to Black, Latino neighborhoods
WTTW: Aldermanic Prerogative Fuels Segregation and Violates Black, Latino Chicagoans’ Civil Rights: Federal Officials
Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago wrongly limited affordable housing with aldermanic prerogative, HUD says
WGN-TV: HUD sets sights on aldermanic prerogative, says practice ‘disproportionately harms’ minority neighborhoods
Chicago Sun-Times: Aldermanic privilege steeped in power, politics — and prejudice, critics contend
Featured Image Courtesy of U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Flickr Page – Public Domain License
Inset Image Courtesy of Eric Allix Rogers‘ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
