Public Interest Law Reporter Volume 9 Article 10 Issue 3 Fall 2004 2004 Without Due Process of Law: Deprivation and Gentrification in Chicago Kelli Dudley Supervising Attorney of the Chancery Advice Desk, Circuit Court of Cook County, Chicago, IL Follow this and additional works at: http://lawecommons.luc.edu/pilr Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, and the Housing Law Commons Recommended Citation Kelli Dudley, Without Due Process of Law: Deprivation and Gentrification in Chicago, 9 Pub. Interest L. Rptr. 11 (2004). Available at: http://lawecommons.luc.edu/pilr/vol9/iss3/10 This Feature is brought to you for free and open access by LAW eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Public Interest Law Reporter by an authorized administrator of LAW eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Dudley: Without Due Process of Law: Deprivation and Gentrification in Chi FEATURES Without Due Process of Law: Deprivation and Gentrification in Chicago By Kelli Dudley* . Introduction: From Currency Exchanges 11. Displacement of Neighborhood Residents to Starbucks The impact of gentrification on affordable Chicago is an aggressively changing city. housing is borne out by economic analysis. One Chicago has long been known as the "city that example is the transformation works." However, at least of of the Chicago late, Chicagoans also Housing Authority's Cabrini-Green development shop, guzzle Starbucks lattes, into and enjoy gastro- a "mixed income" model as the area nomical delights that surround- at a pace similar to that of residents ed Cabrini-Green gentrified.7 of other world-class cities. At its height, the Cabrini Green public hous- Despite the rapid growth enjoyed by many ing development on Chicago's near north side had Chicago neighborhoods, some see the latte cup as 3,591 units in 55 high-rise, low-rise and townhouse half-empty. A map developed by Brigid Rauch of the structures. By 1999, there were only 3,193 units, a University of Illinois illustrates the distribution of reduction of 398 units or 11 percent. The complex Starbucks coffee shops and currency exchanges in now has 1,436 vacant units, a 44.4 percent the Chicago area.' Starbucks coffee vacancy shops, where rate. The population of Cabrini-Green is 99 percent a coffee beverage can cost around five dollars, tend African-American. In 1997, the average income for to be concentrated in affluent neighborhoods.2 In all households in Cabrini-Green was $10,402. In contrast, currency exchanges, stores that offer serv- 1997, nearly half the households (49.4 percent) ices such as check-cashing in exchange for fees to received income from the existing welfare program. people who do not have traditional bank accounts, 323 household or 16.6 percent included employed tend to make their home in areas with relatively members. higher poverty rates.3 Rauch observes that, "The Cabrini-Green, located less than a mile from far south side, which is the poorest area of Chicago, the beaches of Lake Michigan, apparently doesn't is surrounded by one even qualify for a currency of the most affluent and desirable exchange."4 neighborhoods in the The intro- city. Its resi- dents duction of new are white. Starbucks coffee This fact made e f Cabrini-Green shops is ever a increasing as prime development Chicago neighbor- to begin the destruction of the hoods are transforming through gentrification. public housing program in Chicago.8 Gentrification is the process by which new develop- Using figures including the City of Chicago's ment replaces old housing and business stock in a projections, David Ranney and Patricia Wright show neighborhood. Gentrification has an impact on the that the plan to transform Cabrini-Green into a cost of housing and, as a result, the income level of mixed-income development will include only people who can afford to live in a gentrified 350 area. units, or 15 percent, for families with incomes under This reality is understood on an instinctual level. 9 $27,000 per year. Half will be "market rate," with Rauch observes this with a link from her map that no income limits, and another segment will be clas- asks, "What happens when a CHA housing project sified as "affordable" for families earning over is torn down?"s When one follows the link, one sees $44,000 annually1a Fully 70 percent will be afford- a Starbucks sign in the foreground of a photograph able only for those making $44,000 or more." In that shows demolition equipment at work on a hous- contrast, the authors' study shows ing project.6 that in 1997, about half the families living in Cabrini-Green quali- Gentrification, continued on page 12 FATT 2004 Published by LAW eCommons,.. I 2004 1 PUBLIC INTEREST LAW REPORTER 11 FEATURES Public Interest Law Reporter, Vol. 9, Iss. 3 [2004], Art. 10 Gentrification, continued from page 11 fied for welfare assistance.12 Therefore, the City of services, and capital) programs have added to the Chicago's plan left no room for the vast majority of wealth of a segment of the U.S. population who are those who had made their homes in Cabrini-Green. claiming choice urban space for themselves. Public People who are displaced by gentrification housing and other affordable housing units have must seek affordable housing, often beyond the "old occupied this space in Chicago and other U.S. cities. neighborhood." Many turn to the suburbs, where Pushing the lower income workers and the poor out access to services to address basic needs, such as of these areas not only meets the needs of the transportation, is limited. Others may go to neigh- wealthy for choice land, but also sets up a "market" borhoods deemed "less desirable" within the city. that is highly profitable to politically connected urban land speculators. U.S. hous- ing policy has facilitated this process.14 III. Mechanisms for Displacement: Governmental Complicity and "Takings" Gentrification requires that one use of property, such as for moderately priced housing, give way to a different use. Often this entails a shift away from res- idential use by poor or work- ing-class people to use as commercial property or luxu- ry residences. People do Affordable housing in Chicago is a premium, with 36 not usually leave their homes voluntarily. In rental percent of households spending more than 30 per- properties, such as those discussed above, renters cent of their income on housing costs. 3 may be priced out by rent increases. However, This lack of affordable housing pushes those homeowners, with a vested property right in their who seek affordable housing into less desirable liv- homes, are not displaced without a modicum of legal ing conditions and creates a cycle in which the non- process. Litigation or implementation of public poli- working impoverished are crowded out by the work- cy designed to deprive people of their homes is ing poor. fraught with conflict and illustrates the nexus of pri- The decline of affordable housing is part of a vate property rights and law. broader global strategy that aims to cheapen pro- The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to duction costs through mobile capital. The elimination hear Kelo v City of New London.15 This case of living wage jobs has meant that housing is no addresses whether the government may take private longer affordable to large numbers of people. property to benefit private developers.16 This is a Displaced workers have either moved into public departure from the Courts traditional focus where housing or have occupied units once inhabited by the takings clause is concerned.'7 In those cases, people who were even lower on the economic lad- the court has usually considered whether a taking der, driving up housing costs. This has left the old has occurred,18 whether a given taking is compen- urban poor without options and has created a group sable,19 and how much compensation is just.20 of "new urban poor" who are crowding into the low- The issue in Kelo, whether private property est end of the housing market. At the same time, the may be taken by the government for the benefit of "new world order" (economic programs to which the private developers, is significant for the future of authors attribute an emphasis on private market neighborhoods that are potential targets for gentrifi- deregulation, privatization, and mobility of goods, cation. If the court decides that governmental pow- Gentrification, continued on page 13 REPORTER I-ALL 2004 http://lawecommons.luc.edu/pilr/vol9/iss3/1012 PUBLIC INTEREST LAW REPORTER FALL 2004 2 Dudley: Without Due Process of Law: Deprivation and Gentrification in Chi FEATURES Gentrification, continued from page 12 ers may be used in this way, the effect could be dev- contrary, notwithstanding the usual arguments that astating for people living in the communities target- gentrification improves city tax revenues and ed for gentrification. For many people, the compen- increases property values, advocates also assert sation offered when the government takes private that "upgrading" produces a more equitable social property may not offset the personal value of the mix, improvements to local services and an property. For some, sentimentality may cause the enhanced attention to the physical environment.23 individual owner to value a family home more than Gentrification supporters challenge the idea the appraised value reflects. More importantly, fam- that gentrification displaces community residents. ilies who have a great deal of equity in their home They argue that investing in poverty-stricken areas may not be able to purchase a similar home with produces quite the opposite result. Proponents proceeds from a taking. Families may be living in claim market conditions that increase housing pro- homes purchased by prior generations or purchased duction provide renters the option of owning their when home values were very low in the given area.