The Chicago Housing Authority was given the green light to raze six of the 11 buildings in the Harold Ickes development, with no firm long-term plans for the complex, CHA authorities said.
The Chicago Housing Authority was given the green light to raze six of the 11 buildings in the Harold Ickes development, with no firm long-term plans for the complex, CHA authorities said.
The Ickes complex, situated between 22nd and 25th and South State Streets, opened in 1955 with 738 units. At its peak, it housed more than 1,600 families. There are currently 79 families remaining in the Ickes’ three occupied buildings, according to CHA spokesman Matthew Aguilar.
Five of the buildings were closed two years ago, leaving the remaining six sparsely occupied.
Many moved long ago and current residents were given the option to relocate to another CHA-rehabbed property or rent housing in the private market using a Section 8 voucher. Those who chose to stay now occupy three buildings, paving the way for demolition.
Earlier this year, the public housing agency submitted a request to the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development for demolition approval. The 150-day $3.1 million teardown will begin Aug. 3., and is expected to be completed in December.
Aguilar said the CHA “won the support” of the housing agency’s leaseholders to raze the buildings to enhance the “safety and security of the community and pave the way for future development.”
Under CHA’s $1.6 billion “Plan for Transformation,” several public housing sites have been torn down to make way for mixed-income development. The Ickes follows other South Side sites that no longer exist, such as Stateway Gardens, Robert Taylor Homes and Ida B. Wells.
Jasmine Jenkins, a resident since 1989, said she’s not in agreement with the demolition and is tired of not knowing what’s going on with the development.
“We had a meeting last week and they still haven’t told us if we have to move, what they’re going to do once they tear the buildings down. They haven’t told us anything. The meeting was for nothing if you ask me,” said Jenkins who moved from CHA’s Cabrini Green development. “I could’ve stayed there.”
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