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Gentrification: a Case Study of Cabrini-Green

23 May 2006 6 Comments


Photo of Cabrini-Green being demolished

After doing a little searching around for stories of gentrification I came across this photo and an article about Cabrini-Green. Anyone who has previously heard that name most likely knows it as Chicago’s most infamous housing project. Known for it’s crime and gang activity. Well, what you might not know is that that Cabrini-Green no longer exist. In it’s place are expensive condos and townhomes, and some affordable housing. The Chicago Reporter did a great article about the change in Cabrini-Green which I’d encouraging you to read. Here are some statistics from it about the Cabrini-Green neighborhood:

  1. Residential property sales within two blocks of the developments reached a combined total of more than $2 billion

  2. Most of the real-estate activity, nearly $1.6 billion, occurred since 2000, the year the CHA launched its plan

  3. Property values in these neighborhoods have escalated quickly, in some cases, doubling within weeks

  4. While nearly 74 percent of residents in the neighborhoods were black in 2000, nearly 66 percent of new homeowners have been white since then

  5. About 25 percent of the neighborhoods’ households earned more than $50,000 a year in 1999, compared with 82 percent of those who’ve bought homes there since.
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6 Comments »

  • Parke said:

    I lived next to Cabrini Green for four years while at college and saw the start of this process. There are never easy answers in a case like this. I can’t imagine really waht life in Cabrini was like. As a nearby resident, I knew that life there was, to put it mildly, very hard and these projects needed to be cleared out for a fresh start. Certainly the current results are less than they could be as a good number, from what I understand, were just shuffled off to other housing projects.

    # 24 May 2006 at 1:27 am
  • Thoughts on the Journey » May 29th Weekly Trying to Follow Podcast Update (2 weeks worth) said:

    [...] Gentrification: a Case Study of Cabrini-Green (1) [...]

    # 29 May 2006 at 9:10 am
  • Thoughts on the Journey » May 29th Weekly Trying to Follow Podcast Update (2 weeks worth) said:

    [...] Gentrification: a Case Study of Cabrini-Green (1) [...]

    # 29 May 2006 at 9:10 am
  • A “weekly” update podcast of Trying to Follow at Trying to follow said:

    [...] Gentrification: a Case Study of Cabrini-Green (1) [...]

    # 29 May 2006 at 9:20 am
  • Ashely said:

    This new housing is outrageous. We are just creating poverty instead of getting rid of it. This to me is in injustice not only to the people in chicago but to millions of people around the world.There might not be a definite answer to the problem right now but there is always a better answer than being homeless.

    # 23 October 2007 at 12:32 am
  • Ariah (author) said:

    @Ashley: Thanks for chiming in. I agree the housing situations around most of our major cities is horrible. I lived in Nashville and saw a giant high rise condominium being built across the street from a major public housing development. You can be sure the people with the money to build that high rise have the power to make sure that housing development disappears.

    # 23 October 2007 at 6:33 am

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