FAIR. HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES- Chicago is experimenting in two renewal projects

FERD ~RAME.R, President of Draper.and Kramer, Incorporated-the firm managing two Chicago Title I developments being leased on an open-occupancy basis (Lake ~eadows and Prairie Shores)-presented the following address at a November meet­ ing of NAHRG_'s Potomac Chapter. Jlv!r. Kramer's talk touched off a lively question­ and-answer period; some of the questions Mr. Kramer answered are reproduced on pages 32 and 34.

For the past 30 or 40 years, we trated portion of this near south ical, to improve the areas in which urban dwellers have been pursu­ side lived many of the people who they were located. ing the most wasteful, ridiculous made Chicago great: the Pullmans, way of life that one can possibly the Armours, the Swifts, and the Momentous Beginning imagine. VV:e have done so for a Fields. (I might add that the Two momentous things hap­ variety of reasons, two of which Kramers lived on the fringe of this pened almost at the same time. are: a reluctance to accept the an­ area.) It was an ideal location: on One, Michael Reese Hospital de­ noyances of bad municipal house­ the shore of Lake Michigan, with­ cided to hire a full-time planning keeping and a fear of the unknown: in easy access to the Loop, and just staff and, two, in 1945 the Illinois that is, apprehension about living midway between the Loop and the Institute of Technology and Mi­ in the same neighborhood with a great University of Chicago. In this chael Reese jointly decided to form member of a minority group. We area, there grew and flourished two the South Side Planning Board, a have given up a convenient, eco­ important institutions: Michael citizens' organization to replan the nomical place to live, which also Reese Hospital and Armour Insti­ area from the New York Central has at hand the long list of cultural tute, which later became the Illi­ tracks just west of Illinois Tech to advantages to be found in a great nois Institute of Technology. As the lake, and from 12th Street to city-art, music, theatre, museums, the neighborhood grew older, its 47th Street, an area of about seven the stimulation of great universi­ fine homes became obsolete. square miles. These decisions were ties, and so on-for expensive sub­ Negroes, imported from the south all made before there was either urban living, with its relative by the packing companies, started state or federal redevelopment leg­ dearth of cultural advantages ... moving into the periphery of the islation, which, of course, would and with the fatigue of commuting neighborhood and soon there was be necessary to implement any daily added on. a general exodus of white people plan that these organizations might It has been only recently that ex­ from the area, generally to the draw up. perience seems to show that it is edges of the city. The downward The most important and signifi­ possible to replan and rebuild our change in this neighborhood began cant step that was taken was the cities so that most of the people­ about 1915. publishing of a brochure entitled An Opportunity fo r Private Invest­ that is people in the middle-income To Stay or Go? bracket-can again live in a con­ ment in Chicago, which was largely venient and economical location. The deterioration took place rap­ the creation of Reginald Isaacs, And I believe it is being proved idly, so that, in the I 940's, both then planning director ot Michael that, without coercion, such city Michael Reese and the Illinois In­ R eese Hospital and now head of living can be brought about for all stitute of Technology felt that their the department of city planning at people, regardless of their race, situations were critical. At that Harvard University. This booklet creed, or color. time, they felt they had to decide set forth a detailed plan for the whether or not to flee this neigh­ redevelopment area. It showed the For what it is worth, I will give borhood. The majority opinion of individual buildings that might be you a brief sketch of v:hat .!1as been the directors of one of these insti­ put on the land. It even had de­ happening in one centrally located tutions was that, since their insti­ tailed statements on costs of land, area in Chicago. I do so with some tutions had indeed been entirely utilities, and construction; on rent­ trepidation because the experiment engulfed by the slums and by the als; and on operating expenses­ is not complete. It hasn't been in Negro ghetto, they could not hope all designed to show that the real­ existence long enough to prove to survive in this area; therefore, ization of the plan was economi· without a doubt that it will be suc­ they would have to move. How­ cally feasible. The interesting and cessful. And it still does not en­ ever, when the costs of moving, most unbelievable part of this story compass the broad spectrum of the the costs of replacing all the pres­ is that there is a striking similarity population that is necessary for the ent buildings, plus the costs of the between this plan, drawn up in building of a whole new commu­ additional facilities that were so 1945, and the actual developments nity. badly needed were added up, both that have been constructed and are institutions discovered that a move now actually being used. Early Days would be so costly that it would A four-pronged attack on the re­ At the turn of the century, one be impossible of accomplishment. development of the area was begun of the finest places to live in the They decided the economical pro­ in 1945. One, a 30 million dollar entire city of Chicago was the near cedure would be to stay and use all rebuilding program, pushed with south side. In a relatively concen- their resources, financial and polit- great vigor by the Illinois Institute Reprinted from January 1961 Journal of Housing Ja!luary 1961 31 by the Chicago Commission on Human Relations of Technology; two, a 20 million puses unless the surrounding areas had a number of things in mind. dollar rebuilding program for a were to be improved, so that stu­ One, they wanted planned develop­ completely new campus for Michael dents and patients and employees ments that would provide the light, Reese Hospital; three, a 35 million alike would not only feel safe going air, and greenery that had never dollar, 100-acre Lake Meadows de­ through the area to these institu­ been made available in the city velopment, consisting of 2000 dwell· tions, but, what is just as essential, before; two, they wanted the rent­ ing units, a shopping center, and that there would be modern living als to be such that the prorects recreation facilities, now completed, accommodations close to their work could be made available to middle­ by the New York Life Insurance at rentals they could afford to pay. income people; three, they wanted Company; and, fourth, a 20 million The interdependence of these proj­ their fine modern apartment devel­ dollar, 1700-family dwelling unit ects, one upon the other, is illus­ opments, which would be replacing project known as Prairie Shores. trated by the fact that neither the a Negro slum, not to become a The satisfactory accomplishment of New York Life Insurance Company Negro ghetto; and, fourth, they each part of this program was es­ nor the investors in Prairie Shores wanted ancillary facilities to be sential if the entire program were would have started their projects provided to make this area an at­ to prove successful over the years. had not Illinois Tech and Michael tractive place to live: they wanted In other words, it would have been Reese embarked upon theirs. shopping, educational, and recre­ throwing money away for either Housing Goals ational facilities. Michael Reese or Illinois Tech to The developers of the two gi­ In the early stages, by far the pour more money into their cam- gantic housing projects in this area most difficult objective to attain was a fully integrated neighbor­ hood. This program, certainly dif­ ficult as it was, was made more FERD KRAMER TURNS "ANSWER MAN" difficult, I believe, by fortuitous What kind of promotion campaign did you have'! circumstances. The original plan provided for clearing the entire \Ve put on a real campaign to secure a more balanced occupancy, area to be developed by the New i.e., a greater proportion of white tenants at Lake Meadows. York Life Insurance Company. Un­ (a) Two able young men with master's degrees were hired; (b) fortunately, a small adjoining area we canvassed employers, institutions, public school teachers; that was to be developed by other (c) we distributed brochures; (d) we held special open houses people was cleared and made avail­ for special groups; (e) we advertised on the local FM radio sta­ able first. But, when the land was tion, which carnes cultural programs-poetry, music, drama, and offered to these people, they de­ the like: this last approach produced greater results than any cided not to go through with the other technique. deal. The city then asked the New York Life Insurance Company to What did you mean when you said you had "a quota system take over this area and to start in reverse'!" building at once. The New York There was no nonwhite quota system used at Lake Meadows Life Insurance Company complied or Prairie Shores. At this time, Prairie Shores is so popular that with this request, with the result we have all of the white applicants needed and a priority is that we were trying to rent apart­ given to qualified Negro applicants in order to keep the balance ments in a sea of rubble, with part of about 80 per cent white and 20 per cent nonwhite. The non­ of the slums nearby still standing white lag came about because of a very substantial expansion and occupied. Thus, it was very in the past five years of housing opportunities in Chicago for difficult, almost impossible, to get Negroes with adequate income. white people to move into this area. The only reason we (my firm was If a quota on nonwhites were found necessary, when should non­ active at this time as management whites be admitted? After the white residents have been housed'! agents for the New York Life In­ surance Company) could get self­ No there should be open occupancy from the beginning. respecti.ig Negroes to move in was because, at that time, they were so Has there been a shift in the racial balance of the buildings1 desperate for decent housing that No. they would rent good housing in any kind of a neighborhood. Has there been an effort to raise the low white percentage in the First Open Occupancy Effort first Lake Meadows buildings? In an effort to stimulate white While additional buildings at Lake Meadows and Prairie Shores occupancy in these first 500 units, were being constructed, no effort has been made. Now there are we ran advertisements setting forth some opportunities for this. the attractive features of these apartments and the extremely fa­ vorable rent scale. We gave the How does the rate of turnover compare with that in other prop­ address and telephone number of erties your firm handles'! our Loop office and kept the office At Prairie Shores, priority was given to Michael Reese internes open on Saturdays. We hoped to and residents. This means substantial turnover every July for get the opportunity to talk to the this group. The rate of turnover for the other units is about the people who might respond. We same as in buildings elsewhere. knew that, if we just gave the ad-

32 Tiie Journal of HOUSING dress of the property, of course, it would immediately identify it as a Negro slum. Our switchboard was flooded with calls because of the attractiveness of what we were of­ fering: apartments in an elevator building, a view of Lake Michigan, rentals 40 per cent below anything comparable in the city. We did get many interested people to come into the office. We got a few to go out to take a look. But most of those who telephoned, when told of the address, would say, 'Tm broadminded, but not that broad­ minded" ... and then hang up. In the first 500 uni ts, I believe there were only a dozen white fam­ ilies: a very dismal start. However, as the area was further demolished and as the next buildings were built, a larger number of white tenants moved in. The fint 22-story buildings ran about 25 per cent white occupancy; the last 22-story building, about 50 per cent white occupancy. Prairie Shores After the New York Life Insur­ ance Company project had gone we ll past its mid-point, the Prairie Shores project got under way. When its first building came on the market, one could already see the beautiful new campus of Michael Reese on its eastern border and the magnificent New York Life In­ surance Company project on its southern border. Therefore, Prairie Prairie Shores (above) and Lake Meadows (below) are the open-occupancy Shores found it a great deal easier developments managed by Ferd Kramer's firm on Chicago's south side. to attract white tenants than had been the early experience at Lake Meadows. The Prairie Shores development is now running about 80 per cent white occupancy. This percentage was attributable, I believe, to one additional factor. At Prairie Shores, we give a priority of occupancy to staff and employees of Michael Ree5e Hospital. We held an open house for the Michael Reese peo­ ple before we opened it to the pub­ lic. As a result, about 45 of the first 50 approvable applications were white. Therefore, when it was opened to the public and a white applicant asked us what the per­ centage of Negroes would be in the project, we could say that "at the present time, it is running over 75 per cent white." We found this answ~r ~o. be tre_mendously impor­ tant m g1vrng white people the kind of assurances that they thought they should have. The first build­ ing of 342 units, when rental was completed in 1958, had 77 per cent FERD KRAMER TURNS "ANSWER MAN" white occupancy. Two more sim· ilar units have been completed and What about schools and other community facilities? they are running about 80 per cent Adequate community facilities, ready on time, a1e most im­ white occupancy. Many people ask portant. Lack of these facilities, especially schools and recreation, if we have a quota system. The was a problem. In this area were the worst schools-old, anti­ interesting thing is that now we quated buildings; overcrowded classes; low quality of teaching. have what you might call a quota Boards of education do not seem to want to provide schools in system in reverse. The occupancy advance; they want to wait until they can count the children. could easily run over 80 per cent We did succeed in getting an elementary school built on the white (which we do not want) be­ development, with grades 1 through 6. The development has its cause we have so many more qual­ own cooperative nursery school. ified white applicants than we have After waiting a long time for p ark and recreation officials to act, Negro applicants. We have, there­ we purchased land for recreation facilities, to be operated by us fore, made a special effort to pro­ in cooperation with Michael Reese. cure qualified Negro applicants. We are now in the final stretch Do you plan to build three- and four-bedroom apartments for of completing the Prairie Shores large families? project, with two more buildings I don't believe high-rise developments are suitable for families under construction. Complete as­ with children. These families should be housed in single-family surances of success cannot, in my units or garden apartments; some of both of these are planned. opinion, be achieved until all the slums in the area have been Is there public housing nearby? If so; what effect, if any, has squeezed out and many more build­ it had? ings constructed. The vast majority There are two public housing projects quite close by, which of apartments so far built have have had no effect on the success of our development. Public been efficiencies and one-bedroom housing, per se, is no hindrance as a complement to middle­ and two-bedroom apartments-plus income housing. But thousands of public housing units, in one a few three-bedroom units. If we area, is deplorable. In the past ten years, all of Chicago's pub­ are to have a stable neighborhood, lic housing, planned as well as constructed, is on the south side. we must have more apartments Regardless of the factor of race, this is socially not good either suitable for family living, partic­ for the total community, the immediate neighborhood, or pub­ ularly for families with children. lic housing residents themselves. This means many more garden­ type and rowhouse developments, You said the less fanfare. the better. What was the attitude of many with three and four bed­ the press? rooms. We must have more schools, The press in Chicago was fair with publicity and pushed the particularly high schools; more project. It mentioned, but did not fuss over, the open occupancy churches; and more parks and rec­ feature. reational faci1ities. We hope to em­ bark on a development of this type What about suburban bars against nonwhites? in the very near future. Relaxation of the bar against nonwhites in the suburbs, to ac­ One last word. This is the first complish more housing at the middle-income level in inlying speech I have made on this subject areas would be of great help. There is no argument about it. It and I thought quite awhile about is coming about. But it is a slow process. it before I accepted the invitation. I believe firmly that the less fuss, If you"' housing hadn't been a bargain, would it have been a the less of a spectacular that one success in open occupancy? makes of this pioneering effort, the It is hard to say that the price of the housing is the biggest suc­ easier it is of accomplishment. The cess fa::tor but certainly economic advantage is most important. people who live at Prairie Shores do not think of themselves as pio­ Do the tenants participate in various community activities, on neers. They are a group of solid an integrated basis? citizens, 80 per cent of them with While our tenants, as a group, are not organization joiners to a incomes from $4500 to $8000, who large extent, they do participate, together, in the develoement's recognize the great advantages of programs, such as the nursery school and similar activities. living in the central city, who know a good buy when they see one, and What can the federal government do for such developments? who take pride in the fact that, for What the federal government can and should do for faster prog­ the first time, they have the oppor­ ress with developments like Lake Meadows and Prairie Shores tunity of residing in an apartment is not a difficult question. Norman Mason knows my position on development where the facilities this. It is to make mortgage money available at rates making for and maintenance are comparable rentals to serve such a market. to the finest buildings on Lake Shore Drive, our Gold Coast, and Is it true that you moved to Prairie Shores? where the tenant selection policy as­ Yes, we sold our home in the suburbs and moved m. It's very sures them of neighbors who appre­ good living! ciate fine living accommodations.

34 ~ 3 70 The Journal of HOUSING