Status Demolished Demolished 2001–08 | Constructed 1957–59 | |
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Location Bordered by Damen Avenue and Lake StreetChicago, Illinois United States GoverningBody | ||
Henry horner homes doc
Henry Horner Homes was a Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) public housing project located in the Near West Side neighborhood of the West Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Henry Horner was bordered between Damen Avenue, Washington Street, Hermitage Avenue, and Lake Street near the United Center. The homes are named after former Illinois governor Henry Horner. It is the setting for the documentary film Legacy as well as the non-fiction book There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz.
Contents
History
Henry Horner Homes originally consisted of 16 high-rise buildings along with low-rise buildings (920 units) and was completed in 1957. The Henry Horner Homes extension was added in 1961, which included 737 multi-story units. The original buildings consisted of two 15-story buildings and eight 7-story buildings, while the extension consisted of four 14-story buildings and two 8-story buildings all together totaling 1,656 units.
Crime and gang violence
Gang activity has plagued the housing development for decades. The gangs, such as the Blackstone Rangers (which became known later as El Rukn), assert authority over the area and residents are often in the middle of gang warfare and criminal activity.
Redevelopment
A redevelopment project, referred to as the Plan for Transformation, is currently in progress to rehabilitate the buildings and create mixed-income housing. The new neighborhood will be called "West Haven". Phase I of the project, which involved the building of 461 replacement housing units, was completed in 2001. Phase II will be worked on in three stages: public housing, affordable housing and market rate housing. The last high-rise building was demolished in June 2005. The last building in the original projects, a mid-rise, was demolished in 2008.
