Robert Taylor Homes resident leaders went on a trip in April to Springfield and Peoria where they saw beautiful new homes that were built by the same developers that will re-build Robert Taylor. But the homes that they saw weren’t for all but a few of the former residents that used to reside in the John Hay Homes and Warren Homes.

Before the redevelopment of Robert Taylor started, many of the residents thought the development teams would be no more than scheme teams, only out to get their land.
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“I can just slip on a pair of slippers and walk across the street to the store.”

“Overjoyed is how I feel due to the fact that we have clean and modern laundry facilities. I like that I’m on a lower floor in a cleaner, spacious unit.”

These are just some of the views expressed by former residents of the last two buildings of the Robert Brooks Extensions as the wrecking ball slowly knocks down pieces of many memories. These residents were moved into the relocation building at 1440 W. 13th St.
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When and wherever we residents of Harold L. Ickes Homes start to realize any improvements, it takes just a little time to figure out that soon and very soon you’re back at square one.

Adding to the list of many good and very visible new developments that began to take place after the first of the year is the front entry doorway. From open steel gates and slit windowed doors, residents now have full doors and glass bricks to beautify and protect from Chicago’s cold harsh winds that circulated through the first floor lobby as one waited for the elevator. Read more »

For the last 4 years, a former resident of Robert Taylor Homes, Mary Sistruck, a young single mother of six, has been moved around from slum to slum after receiving a Housing Choice Voucher  formerly known as a Section 8.

I wrote about her in Residents’ Journal’s February 2001 edition. Sistruck once lived in the “Hole,” a notorious cluster of buildings that once towered over the State Street Corridor at 53rd Street. Sistruck described herself as “moving around like cattle” since she received the Housing Choice Voucher. Her children have attended six different schools since her first move. Read more »

Top Chicago Housing Authority officials have said they want to get out of the business of providing residents with programs. However, a Residents’ Journal investigation has found that CHA is transferring millions of dollars from its budget to other city departments to administer its former social service programs.

Only a few of those city departments can demonstrate that they are serving residents with those federal funds. And other city departments have yet to begin their efforts to serve residents.
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