Chicago Housing Authority CEO on Overdue Plan for Transformation


The Chicago Housing Authority is playing catch-up on a goal it planned to meet eight years ago.

In 2000, the CHA set a commitment to build, replace or restore 25,000 public housing units by 2009 as part of its Plan for Transformation.

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About three weeks ago, the agency indicated it was more than 1,500 units short of that goal.

While the CHA contends the 2008 financial collapse impacted the project, launched by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2000, some critics believe it fell behind years before the recession.

The plan was approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and introduced as the largest and most ambitious public housing redevelopment plan in the country.

CHA indicated it plans to meet the goal of 25,000 units by the end of this year.

CHA CEO Eugene Jones, who has led the agency since 2015, joins us to discuss public housing in Chicago.


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