The Hidden War: Crime and the Tragedy of Public Housing in Chicago

by Susan J. Popkin

Book Overview

Since the late 1970s, the high-rise developments of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) have been dominated by gang violence and drugs, creating a sense of hopelessness among residents. Despite a lengthy war on crime, costing hundreds of millions of dollars, the CHA has been unable to reduce the violence that makes life intolerable. Focusing on three developments--Rockwell Gardens, Henry Horner Homes, and Harold Ickes Homes--Sue Popkin and her...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081352833X
• ISBN13: 9780813528335
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

a human disaster and tragedy!

This research documentation chonicles the development, history, and failure of mass public housing in large urban centers, such as Chicago. The researchers give a detailed history on local, (Chicago Housing Authority), and Federal government policies which brought about the demise of mass public housing. Also, they timeline the drug epidemic and the organized gang involvement into the underground economy of drug trafficking, which is destroying the human fabric of these massive housing developments. The authors survey three housing developments, to give the reader insight into this tragedy and how the inhabitants are surviving this holecoust. There are times when the hopelessness of this delimma appears insermountable. The researchers attempt to give their insights on present government policies to SAVE the vulnerable population of young women and children who are the majority inhabitants in public housing. They acknowledge demolition of massive housing structures as the only viable alternative to combat the violence and gang dominance over public housing. This is very informative and insightful reading about public and social policies which control the lives of the disadvantaged. The researchers do not deny that its inhabitants are one of the major factors in which crime and violence are uncontrollable in public housing. The authors state that unlike wars in other countries, this war is not being fought for anything...there is neither a greater cause that the residents can use to justify their suffering nor any hope that the violence might lead to a greater good! This is a must READ!