The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) has released its criteria for choosing who will live at the redeveloped Lathrop Homes on the North Side.
On May 11 the CHA announced the availability of a draft "tenant selection plan" (TSP) for the first phase of new and rehabbed units at its property along the Chicago River at Diversey Avenue.
Members of the public have until June 10, 2016 to comment on the plan.
Although the CHA issued a public notice saying that the draft TSP is available on the agency's Web site, it didn't say exactly where.
How to find the document: From the CHA's home page at thecha.org, click on "About." (On a desktop-size screen, you'll find that on the upper right of the home page. On a mobile-type screen, click on the menu icon.) On the "About" page, under "Plans, Reports & Policies," click on "Proposed Policies Out for Public Comment."
Here are some highlights of the draft TSP:
The first phase of the property's redevelopment, which the CHA calls "Phase 1A," will result in 413 rental units.* Of these, 161 will be rented at market rates. The remainder will be rented to applicants whose income is below the median for the area.
The document defines the criteria for how building management will prioritize applicants. The criteria include things like existing Lathrop residency, income, disabilities, and changes in household size. It also shows how management will create waiting lists for units, and choose applicants from waiting lists.
The draft plan identifies the non-income-related eligibility requirements (e.g., student or employment status) for different kinds of units.
The draft lays out standards for how big an apartment (from one to four bedrooms) an applicant household can get, based on the number of people in the household. Generally, applicants may have one person per bedroom, but no more than two.
Applicants with children under 13 years old must verify that the kids have "adequate day care or supervision."
* Note that this number is smaller than the one shown in the city's redevelopment plan for the tax-increment financing district that surrounds Lathrop Homes. Page 22 of that document states that the redevelopment will include a total of 535 residential units over the next 23 years. Presumably, the additional units will appear in later phases—though neither the redevelopment plan nor the tenant selection plan say when those will take place.
