Fiasco of the Projects

            Growing up in the Chicagoland area, I was too young to know where the areas of the Robert Taylor Homes were. I wasn’t aware of what it was back then. As I got older, did some research and taking this class; I got a good understanding of it. As William Julius Wilson mentioned in The Truly Disadvantaged, violent crime is high because of the Robert Taylor Homes. It is one of the largest public housing located on the south side of Chicago. I think with the creation of this project, it was a way to improve the living conditions of individuals. I believe the projects did more harm than good.

In 1980, the population was almost 20,000 but there was an additional 5,000-7,000 residents that were not registered. As you see, overcrowding was unavoidable; individuals were all crammed together and there was not enough space. Wilson stated, “in 1980 only a little more than 0.5 percent of Chicago’s more than 3 million people lived in the Robert Taylor Homes, 11 percent of the city’s murders, 9 percent of its rapes, and 10 percent of its aggravated assaults were committed in the project” (25). This outcome is over populated and may results in various problems. Wilson mentions that it’s the only violent large housing project in Chicago. There were many problems with the Robert Taylor Homes. There were lacks of resources, gang violence, drugs, crime, no security, etc. There were numerous of homicides due to drug dealing, shooting incidents that may be gang related. Most of the residents were unemployed and listed under public assistance and that may be their only income source, most were single parent, female-headed households and was mostly African American. I think it’s important to look at the role of how the administrators/city is played in constructing this project. I believe the city failed to recognize the safety of individuals, keeping low crime rates, and the safety of the structure. It’s also important to look at the public housing projects and how it may have an affect on young children, or raising a child in that area. The presentation today gave a great example of the video with the women saying it’s difficult to raise a child in that area without having any influences around. You also brought up a good point in class today of how parents would want security and better schools for their kids. If there are no resources to access and motivations for kids to go to school, then they’ll likely be influence by others and unlikely to succeed. Like any parent, you don’t want your children to have to go through the challenges and the sacrifices you had to make. In relating to this, here is a map of Dekalb and as you see, we are looking at the low income housing of Dekalb.

Under NIU’s housing/homeless tab, there are housing available for the community. Before writing this blog, I did not know there is a low-income housing by campus. I thought about how it may affect or may not affect the community if there was a low-income housing on campus. I also learned there was a difference between public housing and section 8. Public housing is when a housing authority owns and manages the property lease. Section 8 is owned and managed by private landlords. Although I am not aware of how the community is like in Dekalb, I think it’d be interesting in comparison to Chicago or within other areas with low-income housing. I want to see if there are any influences in behavior within the community, the resources they have, the maintenance, and the safety. Although there were many problems with the Robert Taylor Homes, I believe the city of Chicago failed to recognize the safety of the structure. The difference between Dekalb and Chicago is that one is in the city and the other is in the suburb. Even though they’re both in different areas, they can still have similar problems. Ultimately, what I’m trying to say here is that we see the projects did more harm than good.