In the previous issue of Residents’ Journal, I wrote about two of the candidates who were competing to be the next US Senator from Illinois. I asked them specific questions of interest to our entire readership. However, there are issues which all voters should become familiar with. To better inform our readers, I have asked a number of local activists to comment on some of the issues we should know about.

On November 2, 2004, citizens of the United States of America will go to the polls to vote. Due to the war in Iraq, economic concerns regarding the national budget, jobs, out-sourcing (sending work to foreign countries) and the threat of rising interest rates, many of us will certainly be aware of the importance and significance of the coming election. Locally and nationally, activists, officials and others are sounding the alarm far and wide to make sure we understand what is at stake.
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Many RJ readers might have heard there is a new program to help people with Housing Choice Vouchers buy their own homes. RJ readers are familiar with what used to be called the Section 8 Program. That program was phased out of existence in October 2000. What were referred to as the Voucher Program and the Certificate Program have now both been merged into the Housing Choice Voucher Program. There has been a bit of re-structuring and overhauling of the rules of eligibility.

It is always good to keep our information current by checking in with a few of the people responsible for running certain programs. In the case of the Housing Choice Voucher program, many of the old rules are still applicable. For example, there continues to be a waiting list for vouchers. One new thing that CHAC offers is a home ownership program.

Recently, I interviewed Kenneth Coles, who since the summer of 1999 has been manager of the Intake Department for CHAC, the private company which runs Chicago’s Housing Choice Voucher program. “The happy story, of course, is, when we came in ’95, the program along with Section 8 had not been run as well as it could have been run. Read more »