Logan Square community hosts protest urging Chicago Housing Authority and landlords to take action on public and affordable housing

CHICAGO (WLS) — Leaders in Logan Square want to make affordable housing more accessible in their community.

They took to the streets in protest on Saturday. The group is calling out the Chicago Housing Authority, landlords and others.

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A coalition of the community and families gathered once again to demand affordable housing from the city.

The 13th annual Las Posadas for Public and Affordable Housing rally took place in the Northwest Side community on Saturday morning. The event was coordinated by the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance.

According to Pastor Erin Coleman Branchaud from St. Luke Church of Logan Square, the rally was organized by a coalition of pastors and faith communities dedicated to advocating for public and affordable housing in the neighborhood. This group has been actively involved in such initiatives for several years.

Participants in the rally have raised concerns against the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) for neglecting to maintain livable properties, opting instead to let them deteriorate rather than refurbishing them and making them available for rent to families in need who are stuck on waiting lists.

They used a reenactment of the holy journey to Bethlehem, where Joseph and Mary pregnant with baby Jesus were turned away from an inn to illustrate their point.

According to the agency, a property on North Spaulding Avenue is one of the CHA’s scattered site properties. It has nearly 2,900 public housing units located individually or in small groups throughout most of the city’s 77 communities.

Scattered site units offer a variety of housing options including single family and multi-unit buildings.

While neighborhood resident Catherine Serpa said she supports the agency’s Restore Home initiative, which can offer some scattered sites locations for affordable homeownership opportunities, she says people need to be able to have affordable rental options now.

“You have these units, you’re saying its not good for low income families, but you want to sell and make that profit,” Serpa said.

In an email response, CHA spokesperson Matthew Aguilar says construction at the Spaulding address is expected to start in early 2025 and that the agency has made significant progress on its Restore Home initiative.

The agency wrote in part, “as of this month, construction is finished on 36 units and 10 more units are very close to completion. Three single-family homes have been completed and are occupied. 13 more are under construction. CHA has made significant progress on its Restore Home initiative.”

This comes some in this community are vowing not to give up their fight for affordable housing.