Sources: Where can I learn more about this subject?

Please refer to the below sources for more information about the Plan for Transformation and the history of public housing in Chicago:

• The Chicago Housing Authority was created in 1937 to alleviate Chicago’s housing shortage. You may access information about their history, housing developments and current initiatives at: http://www.thecha.org/transformplan/plan_summary.html

• CHAC Inc. is a private company that manages the Chicago Housing Choice Voucher Program (formerly known as Section 8). Since CHA residents started moving into the private market in 1999, CHAC has overseen more than 4,800 relocations, according to the company's website. To learn more about its responsibilities or eligibility requirements for the voucher program, consult its website at: http://www.chacinc.com/index.asp

• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was founded under the U.S. Housing Act of 1937. Its mission is to increase homeownership, support community development and to improve access to affordable housing. The agency administers programs to alleviate housing discrimination, homelessness  and to prevent foreclosures. You can learn more about their programs on their website: http://www.hud.gov/

• The Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 is the law that mandated the renovation of public housing. A summary of the law is available on the HUD website at: http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/phr/about/titlev.pdf

• The Urban Institute is a non partisan economic policy and social research think tank located in Washington, D.C. Since 1999, the Insitute has tracked CHA residents going through the plan via  regular surveys and in-home interviews. You can see their June 2007 reports on the Hope VI programs, a policy similar to the Plan for Transformation, by clicking on the below link from their website: http://www.urban.org/toolkit/policybriefs/subjectbriefs.cfm?documenttypeid=122. Another good source for research on the success of relocation procedures is available in their 2002 final report, entitled “CHA Relocation Counseling Assessment” available at: http://www.urban.org/publications/410549.html

• Dr. Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh is a professor of sociology at Columbia University, who has done extensive research into the life in the Robert Taylor Homes, the Plan for Transformation. You can learn more about his work in his books:

American Project: The Rise and Fall of a Modern Ghetto  (2000)

Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Poor, Harvard University Press (2006)

Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets, Penguin Press (2008)

• Residents’ Journal is a Chicago-based non-profit publication, written by CHA residents about issues in their communities. Check out the latest edition at: http://www.wethepeoplemedia.org/

• The Metropolitan Planning Council is a policy research center in Chicago that focuses on issues such as public transportation, affordable housing and community building intiatives. Their November 2005 progress report on the Plan for Transformation can be found below at: http://www.metroplanning.org/resource.asp?objectID=3046&keyword=Plan+for+Transformation

• Alex Kotlowitz is a Chicago-based journalist whose book, There Are No Children Here, Anchor Books (1991) offers an  intimate portrait of two young brothers growing up amid the violence of Chicago’s Henry Horner Homes.

• Nicolas Lemann, dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism examined the roots of Chicago’s African-American culture, as well as its ghettos in  The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America, Vintage Books (1991).