South Shore residents need protections to stay in their neighborhood, so that those who have been here can benefit from the Obama Presidential Center. This package of policies could be immediately implemented and prevent displacement in South Shore. Further, Woodlawn residents need truly affordable housing to be developed on the vacant city owned lot closest to the Obama Center.
In February 2023 , 88% of South Shore residents who voted on the Obama CBA Coalition’s ballot referendum on a CBA voted YES. Similarly, 92% of Woodlawn residents who voted on the Woodlawn CBA referendum voted YES. The Ordinance is the culmination of an intensive community engagement process, including thousands of doors knocked, thousands of South Shore residents phone-banked, engagement with multiple South Shore tenant organizations (tenants compose 75% of South Shore residents), and numerous community meetings and teach-ins over the course of the last two-and-a-half years. South Shore faces some of the most severe housing challenges of any neighborhood in Chicago. The majority of South Shore residents are housing-cost burdened, according to the DePaul Institute for Housing Studies. South Shore has one of the highest rates of homeowners who lose their homes to property tax sale of any neighborhood in the city. And it has had the highest eviction rate of any neighborhood in the city for more than a decade. A 2019 study from the Vorhees Center also found that a majority of residents living within two miles of the Obama Center site could not afford their current housing costs or that of new, higher-priced housing units under construction in the area. On Saturday, June 24, 2023, the Obama CBA Coalition unveiled the complete text of the South Shore & 63rd and Blackstone housing ordinance to prevent displacement near the Obama Center. Alderpersons Desmon Yancy (5th Ward) and Jeneatte Taylor (20th Ward) committed to introducing the legislation in a packed house of over 300 residents at South Shore United Methodist Church. The 2023 Proposed CBA ordinance includes more than $64 million in investments for housing and development in South Shore. The ordinance also names the vacant lot at 63rd and Blackstone, located in Woodlawn, for affordable housing – an unmet demand leftover from the previous CBA Coalition fight for the Woodlawn Housing Preservation Ordinance. Alderperson Yancy has committed to introducing the bill in his first 100 days in office. Read full ordinance text here. Download revised one pager here. CBA Summit, Referendum & Other Related MediaCBA Referendum Results- March 2023 CBA Summit - June 2023 Related Media
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