Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance

The Chicago region's history of racial discrimination and segregation in housing, including public housing, and its negative effects are well documented. In November 2001, the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance (CAFHA) published, Putting the “Choice” in Housing Choice Vouchers, a brief intended as an advocacy and organizing tool to identify and promote policies and practices in the administration of Housing Choice Voucher programs that would support fair housing and provide quality, meaningful housing opportunities for low income families.

In June 2002, CAFHA launched the advocacy phase of this project. Since then, the project has convened a thirty-five member advisory committee (representing community, faith-based, and area civic organizations); conducted a fact finding effort through the use of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests; met and/or interacted several times with local HUD officials, public housing authority officials, and elected officials; and hired a consultant to assist in information gathering and advocacy.

The project has advocacy components related to amending Section 8 policies, increasing the supply of affordable housing accessible to families sing vouchers (including landlord incentives and non-discrimination initiatives), and dministrative reforms. This report focuses on administrative reforms.

Although the project is regional in scope, the primary focus of this report is limited to the
administration of Housing Choice Vouchers by the region’s two largest public housing authorities, he Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) and the Housing Authority of the County of Cook (HACC).

This report reflects specific information gathered and compiled under the auspices of the project nd is divided into four sections. Section One contains a summary of HUD’s responses to FOIA requests. Sections Two and Three summarize CHA’s FOIA responses and the results of a survey administered to landlords participating in the CHA/CHAC program. Sections Four and Five summarize HACC’s FOIA responses and the results of a survey administered to landlords participating in HACC programs. Section Six provides recommendations for improving the administration of Housing Choice Voucher programs.