Escaping the Hidden War Safety Is the Biggest Gain for CHA Families

to improve public housing by replacing failed developments with healthy and safe communities that offer a better quality of life for residents. In 1999, when the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA) Plan for Transformation began, the agency’s large family developments were notorious for being among the most dangerous places in the nation. Decades of failed federal policies, managerial incompetence, financial malfeasance, and basic neglect had left these developments in an advanced state of decay, with overwhelming crime and violence and near-absolute gang dominance. During the 1990s, the CHA had fought an all-out war against the drug trafficking and violence in its developments, spending $500 million on such efforts as law enforcement “sweeps” intended to remove drug dealers and gangs from its buildings, inhouse police and security forces, and tenant patrols, none of which had any lasting effect on the crime and disorder (Popkin et al. 2000). In 2001, before the HOPE VI redevelopment initiative began in Madden/Wells, respondents reported extreme problems with crime and disorder. Over 80 percent reported “big problems” with drug sales and drug use in their development and more than 70 percent reported “big problems” with shootings and violence. Residents’ perceptions were supported by official crime statistics; in 2001, reported violent crime in Madden/Wells was more than two times that for the rest of the city. The CHA’s plans for Madden/Wells called for demolishing the development and replacing it with a new mixed-income development called Oakwood Shores. By 2005, about 60 percent of Madden/ Wells respondents had been relocated, most to the private market with vouchers. Respondents who had moved out reported dramatically improved circumstances— the proportion of voucher holders reporting big problems with drugs and violent crime fell by about 50 percentage points. However, the respondents still living in their original units in 2005 were living in conditions just as bad as in 2001. Indeed, circumstances were possibly worse; more than half of the development was empty and, according to respondents, gangs and drug dealers from recently closed Escaping the Hidden War Safety Is the Biggest Gain for CHA Families