Settlement Negotiations Under Way in Effort to Preserve Public Housing

The Shriver Center and Prairie State Legal Services filed a lawsuit in July to stop the demolition of Jane Addams Village, an 84-unit public housing development in Rockford, Illinois. The demolition is stayed pursuant to an agreed standstill order between the parties. The complaint alleges that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) did not have a statutory basis for approving the local housing authority’s application to demolish the project.

Last month HUD acknowledged that its approval of the proposed demolition had been granted contrary to the statute, as plaintiffs allege. The parties have since entered into settlement negotiations. The Shriver Center and Prairie State hope that these negotiations will result in the rehabilitation or reconstruction of 84 public housing units, ranging from two to five bedrooms in size, for low-income families in Illinois. The Shriver Center and Prairie State are seeking that the Rockford Housing Authority implement a housing mobility counseling program for displaced residents and allow those residents a right of return.

For more information, contact Kate Walz or Sam Tuttle, housing attorneys at the Shriver Center.