The shovels have yet to break ground for the future Obama Presidential Center, yet another wallop of negative news has hit the project.
Rising rents and property values already are driving out low-income residents who live in Woodlawn, South Shore, Washington Park and other neighborhoods adjacent to the Obama Center’s Jackson Park site, according to a study released Thursday by the Voorhees Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The inference is clear: The Obama Center threatens to add to Chicago’s problem of residential displacement, often reduced to the word gentrification.
Hence the need for a community benefits ordinance for Obama Center, which the report clearly was written to promote.
None of the study’s findings are surprising, though the findings raise more questions than they answer about the complex problem of housing affordability.
Rising rents around Jackson Park? That’s happening in other neighborhoods throughout Chicago. A recent DePaul University study found that about half of all renters in Chicago, (and in suburban Cook County) are now “rent-burdened,” which means they spend more than 30% of their income on rent.
Soaring property values in Woodlawn? That makes it more expensive to buy a new home, for sure. But rising property values also are a boon to middle class residents whose homes plummeted in value when the housing market crashed in the mid-2000s. Their homes are now recovering value, which could make the community more attractive and stable.
Evictions are on the rise in South Shore and elsewhere — but why? Are landlords really just trying to clear out buildings so they can convert them to high-end luxury rentals? Or are evictions the result of too many tenants who fail to pay their back rent or cause disruptions in their buildings?
As we said, more questions than answers.
This brings us to the bigger picture, which shouldn’t be overshadowed by one day’s news: When all is said and done, the Obama Center promises to bring “good” problems. It stands to be a community benefit in itself, not a neighborhood hindrance.
The prospect of a major new cultural attraction, a stone’s throw from the lakefront and built in a refurbished Jackson Park, is undoubtedly drawing the attention of real estate investors looking to cash in. They will want to rehab apartments and build new homes for the new residents who will flock there.
That’s a good problem. It can be managed, and the city has to be smart and fair about it all.
Longtime residents must share in the benefits of having a cultural gem in their community, after decades of disinvestment. They shouldn’t be tossed out to make way for new residents who want to put down stakes.
As anyone who lives in the area can attest, there are plenty of vacant lots begging for new homes and businesses. There’s no need to stifle development. Just steer it in the right direction.
It’s worth noting here the findings of a July 2019 study on the long-term impact of gentrification by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Using census data from the 100 largest metro areas for 2000-2014, the researchers found that many residents were able to stay in their communities long term. Gentrification increased the likelihood of moving among less-educated, lower-income residents by only 4% to 6%, a finding that suggests widespread fears of mass displacement are overblown.
“Overall, we find that many original residents, including the most disadvantaged, are able to remain in gentrifying neighborhoods and share in any neighborhood improvements,” the study, by researchers Quentin Brummet and Davin Reed, states.
That’s exactly what should happen.
The study doesn’t shrug off displacement altogether, or ignore the fact that gentrification can set off cultural clashes between new, wealthier — often white — residents, and long-time, lower-income — often black or brown — residents.
Those are real concerns for City Hall, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Obama Foundation to address.
One day of bad news should not derail that larger, deeper effort.
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