Leaders of the City Council are calling for more accountability from the Chicago Housing Authority following an investigation by the Illinois Answers Project and Block Club Chicago that put “front and center” the agency’s hundreds of empty, deteriorating units.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), who chairs the council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate, said he already requested quarterly meetings with CHA CEO Tracey Scott and other officials in early November to answer questions about the vacancies and other issues.

“We want to make sure that council members and the public at large … and especially CHA residents and people on the waiting lists, are able to come and hear directly from the CEO and the leadership on the progress that is being made on scattered housing, among other topics,” Sigcho-Lopez said.

Other alderpeople also expressed concerns after Illinois Answers and Block Club found that nearly 500 of the CHA’s scattered-site properties are empty while more than 200,000 people are on the agency’s waiting lists for housing. After the news outlets began asking questions, the CHA announced it plans to spend $50 million in 2024 to rehabilitate 176 of the scattered-site properties.

The scattered-site program was intended to help desegregate the city’s public housing and expand residents’ access to opportunities. Instead, one in six of the CHA’s scattered sites are unused — and in some cases decaying and becoming blights on the neighborhood.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) said the investigation by Illinois Answers and Block Club shows why the housing committee needs to hear regularly from CHA leaders.

“It’s only incumbent on us as a City Council to ask these questions as to what is CHA doing in order to accommodate the shortage of affordable housing,” Villegas said. “Obviously here’s one topic that’s front and center that we should immediately begin to ask questions around and have CHA come in and testify about what they’re doing.”

Villegas’ ward includes one of the long-vacant homes featured in the Block Club-Illinois Answers story. After the house was infested with raccoons, Villegas said he had to intervene and contact CHA property manager Hispanic Housing Development Corp. multiple times. They eventually responded, he said, but “they should be out driving around to make sure everything is good to go.”

The CHA is formally an independent government body with its own board responsible for providing oversight. But the agency has been under fire in recent years for its slow pace of housing construction — and deals to sell off parcels of land — while thousands of people struggle with housing insecurity and homelessness.

The CHA’s board members and CEO are appointed by the mayor and approved by the City Council. As a candidate for mayor, Brandon Johnson called for a new direction at the agency. But he has said little about the CHA since taking office in May.

A spokesman for the mayor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Under Sigcho-Lopez’s plan, the housing authority will be tasked with providing alderpeople a report on its progress, he said. 

The committee hearings will then focus on allowing residents and alderpeople to share their questions and concerns about needed improvements at existing public housing as well as plans for building new housing, Sigcho-Lopez said. He hopes to hold some of the meetings in impacted communities outside of City Hall.

The first meeting will likely be sometime in the first quarter of next year, he said. But Sigcho-Lopez said he’s still negotiating the frequency of the hearings. Officials from the CHA have agreed to appear twice a year but not quarterly, he said.

A spokesperson for the CHA said in a statement that its leaders have not yet talked with Sigcho-Lopez about appearing quarterly, though the agency “shares the City Council’s commitment to ensuring affordable housing throughout the city. 

“We regularly work with Aldermen and are available to answer questions from City Council,” the statement continued. “Our CEO appeared in front of the Committee on Housing and Real Estate earlier this year.”

Tracey Scott, the agency’s CEO, faced a barrage of questions and complaints when she made that appearance in February.

Sigcho-Lopez said the reluctance of CHA officials to appear before the public is part of the reason he and other alderpeople are requesting a change in leadership at the agency, he said.

He said he expects the City Council to “put more pressure on the CHA” next year. 

Villegas said the agency should be really concentrated on building more public housing. 

He said he lived in CHA housing with his family for eight years when he was a child. That allowed his family to regroup and get back on their feet before finding a market-rate home. He worries that others aren’t getting the same opportunity.

“You have 200,000 people and families on a waiting list, 200,000 families and people that are waiting for an opportunity,” Villegas said. “And the department that’s responsible for it is not moving in a fashion or in a way to address the needs.” 

“Reporting on equity issues by the BGA is supported by Joel M. Friedman, president of the Alvin H. Baum Family Fund.”