1. writings
housing in bronzeville
Homelessness is a pandemic. It affects, it spreads, and no country is left untouched. To this day, no vaccine discovery promoting a universal cure to homelessness has been created, or so it seems.
I was born and raised in Chicago, home to sprawling skylines and crowded suburbs. Given these contrasting settings, Chicago is not beautiful for everyone, oftentimes it can be rough and raw with not a single street left unoccupied. According to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, there are about 76,998 people experiencing homelessness and this is evident everywhere— on the streets, under highways, on sidewalks, outside of stores, inside of stores— people in need, without a place to be or a space to call home.
Today, dignified housing does not seem to be a priority. Due to its many complications, people shy away from addressing the issues that cause homelessness or to provide solutions that may help the cause. Even in the context of architecture, in which spaces are designed to fulfill the need of inhabitants, not many want to venture into a realm that offers less monetary gains and praises when providing dignified affordable housing.
It was not until I studied and analyzed homelessness through the lens of architecture that I was able to grasp the many dynamics and complexities of it. Bronzeville, the focus of my case study, as well as the neighborhood that is home to Mies van der Rohe’s Crown Hall, used to be vibrant in the 1920s. Inaddition to its structure, it tried to find a housing solution for those in need.
Bronzeville Chicago was known as “The Black Metropolis.” A city within a city for African Americans by African Americans. Restricted to limited space and a high density of residents at the time, many of whom were under the poverty line, the lease agreements were considered unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1948. Large-scale public housing projects were built to ameliorate crowded and unsanitary living conditions, eventually stretching over thirty city blocks in Bronzeville alone (Blueprint for Bronzeville, 2017). In the documentary Blueprint of Bronzeville outlining the gentrification of Chicago, a current resident of Bronzeville, Valencia Hardy, describes the projects as “good in the beginning. There were strict standards about who was allowed to rent, as well as good upkeeping.” In 1999, Bronzeville had the highest concentration of high-rise public housing in the city (Hyra 2008). South State Street alone had five major housing projects: Raymond Hillard Homes, Harold Ickes, Dearborn Homes, Stateway Gardens, and Robert Taylor Homes.
As time went on, many of the public housing complexes became neglected with a lack of resource facilities. Crime and drugs became evident problems and Chicago’s city government struggled with what to do about the increasing problem of poor-quality public housing in Bronzeville. The projects became spaces for drug trade and violence, making the community unsafe (Hyra, 2008). By the late 1990s, due to the lack of investment to improve the conditions of the housing facilities, the city began tearing down the projects; 11,500 units of public housing have been torn down and their residents displaced (Stand up for Bronzeville).
In the past, Bronzeville provided a home for those that were in need. The housing may not have been the most dignified spaces, but the projects were trying to tackle and address the lack of housing for those financially in need and preventing poverty and homelessness. Today, there are many social, political, and economic issues that make it difficult to provide affordable housing because it is a risky investment. Therefore, not many people are willing to gamble. Tackling such issues require people who are passionate and patient; people who are willing to work through the obstacles and difficulties to find a permanent solution.