Letter to the editor

Chicago Reporter, The, April, 2002

To the editor:

In its March 2002 edition, The Chicago Reporter's "Keeping Current" section states that "the federal housing voucher program in Chicago has not succeeded in its goal to move poor families into middle-class neighborhoods." The article references findings from "CHAC Mobility Program Assessment," a recent Urban Institute report. As the authors of the report, we disagree with the Reporter's negative characterization of CHAC's success in assisting voucher holders move to low-poverty neighborhoods. As we note in the report, CHAC has made significant progress in transforming a small mobility program into one of the largest programs in the country. Since CHAC took over the Section 8 program in 1995, the number of voucher holders living in low-poverty neighborhoods increased from 29 percent to 42 percent in 2001. Further, 43 percent of the respondents in our study moved to "opportunity neighborhoods" (neighborhoods that are less than 24.99 percent poor). It is true that Chicago-a city plagued by a long history of raci al and economic segregation- has a long way to go in ensuring that low-income families have access to neighborhoods that provide opportunity. However, these numbers reflect a real commitment to expanding housing opportunities for low-income families.

Mary Cunningham and Susan Popkin The Urban Institute