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Fighting Back:
Development Without Displacement
he machinations of city government around development and gentrification depend on uninformed residents and tenant complacency. In Chicago, meetings and community hearings having to do with gentrification issues are planned in order to keep community involvement to a minimum. Local aldermen usually schedule "community meetings" at which they extol pro-gentrification plans and even plant supporters in the audience to promote the appearance of community support. They attempt to squelch any actual grassroots input into city plans, changing the dates of public meetings without notice and doing whatever else they can to clip their opponents’ wings.
But every major city has at least one non-profit group fighting for housing rights; many cities have a whole list of such organizations, including many all-volunteer, entirely-grassroots ones. Gentrification is a major issue for all of them. In addition, among the heated community meetings addressing gentrification across the country, scattered voices are heard decrying the hard-liners who want no development, no chance of gentrification whatsoever.
Community groups in Boston and New York were able to soften their rent control cuts with provisions for the elderly and other minor anti-gentrification measures, and the City Life/Vida Urbana group even organized a committee of landlords who support affordable housing and oppose gentrification. The Anti-Displacement Project in Springfield, MA has also been successful in passing pro-tenant legislation. One demonstration included 40 low-income residents surrounding a pro-gentrification city hall official with squeaky rubber rats and proclaiming him "Dirty Rat of the Year."
In Chicago, the Organization of the Northeast (ONE) has served as a national model for its work in the Uptown area. Uptown, which studies have shown to be one of the most economically and racially diverse neighborhoods in the country, has long been at risk of gentrification because of its lakefront location. But largely due to the efforts of ONE, it continues to be one of the city’ s more affordable. In fact, according to James Mumm of ONE, ONE has played a direct role in the maintenance of over 4,300 affordable units in Uptown and the nearby Edgewater neighborhood. These units include 11 Section 8 buildings, four of which are members of ONE, and the organizations Lakefront SRO, Harper House and Voice of the People, all of which are ONE members.
One of ONE’s strategies is tenant buyouts, particularly in cases where a landlord is opting out of a government-subsidized mortgage for Section 8 affordable housing. In the early ‘90s, ONE orchestrated the first tenant buyout in the country utilizing the federal Preservation Project program for Section 8 buildings, when low-income residents took over the Carmen Marine apartment building. They have successfully organized tenant buyouts at numerous other buildings which otherwise would probably have gone condo. Like many successful community groups, ONE is a powerful force in the housing market largely because its scope extends well beyond housing.
"We obtain property [through buyouts] which will then remain secure for affordable housing," said ONE organizer Chris Pope. "Then those anchor the community. We work building to building, keeping them from being sold to someone who will throw everyone out. We’re working on a lot-by-lot survey so we have a sense of what’s happening and we know what will be targeted next."
Joy Aruguete of the Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation, a Chicago non-profit responsible for creating hundreds of units of secure affordable housing in Pilsen, said the company has sometimes been called "the original gentrifier" and blamed for paving the way for gentrification in the neighborhoods in which they work. But she said people shouldn’t be asked to forfeit quality housing and vibrant businesses in fear of gentrification, and that generally people understand it can be possible to develop a neighborhood without displacement.
"As a community developer, we’re clear that we want our units to go to people who already live in the community," she said. "That’s part of our mission. When the gentrification issue is framed for political purposes and people don’t look at the complexity of it, that hurts everyone."
Virginia Pace of the Holsten Development Corporation in Chicago said that even for-profit companies aren’t always on a mission to gentrify. She said that her company is "very neighborhood based" and has focused on providing affordable housing for over 25 years. The residents of the Cabrini-Green public housing project in Chicago seemed to recognize this: with Cabrini slated for transformation into a controversial "mixed-income community," they chose Holsten as their favored private developer.
"Because we deal with affordable housing, we’re not displacing people," said Pace, the vice president of development. "You do have to make money, but there are ways to do it without displacing people. With low-income housing the returns are smaller than with market rate, but the risks are also more long-term and you have tax credits."
In Chicago’s Pilsen, the gentrification battle has been frustrating, but opponents have enjoyed relative success. The city has been trying to gentrify Pilsen for decades, and so far every major initiative has been beaten down through community pressure. Also, despite noticeable changes in the past five years, Chicago’s West Town can also boast of some triumphs. The West Town Tenants’ United organization has a campaign to help low-income homeowners protest increases in their property taxes. In February, the campaign filed 130 complaints with the assessor’s office, and in every single instance the taxes were subsequently lowered. "I’m very proud to say it’s my neighborhood and I want it to be my kids’ neighborhood too," said Ana Gonzalez, a West Town activist and 25-year resident.
"Everywhere I look they’re building something new, but what good is that if we aren’t here to take advantage of it? This is my neighborhood and I’m here to stay." 
