For most of its existence, the ABLAs held more than 17,000 residents (though only 8,500 were officially on the lease), giving it the second largest population in the CHA.

The Jane Addams Homes (one of the first three public housing projects in Chicago) consisted of 32 buildings of 2, 3, and 4 stories (987 units) built in 1938 by Franklin D. Roosevelt's PWA Program.

The one remaining building at 1322-24 West Taylor Street is being incorporated into plans for a new National Public Housing Museum,[3] as part of the International Sites of Conscience.

In 2005, the CHA started a 2-phase rehabilitation process that preserved the property as affordable rental housing.

Just west of the ABLA's was a small neighborhood affectionately known as "'cross Ashland," named for the southern twang where many residents of the downtown and the projects pronounced its location.

Many black and Jewish people lived in the area through much of the 20th century until the late sixties when most Jews, Poles, and Italians moved away.

They were proud to leave the oppressive south and work arduous hours to feed families and attend barbecues.

In 2005, this community of roughly 10,000 in the fifties and 5,000 in the nineties was eventually brought to an end in a mass fire sale to land developers.

Today the Cross Ashland area remains underdeveloped save for the new FBI building and University Police Station.

After the knocks and calls for McCoy went unanswered, officers suggested breaking the door down, but were cautioned not to by CHA security guards.

Witnesses claim that they saw the two men carrying McCoy's 19-inch color TV and rocking chair around the project in the early morning hours after her death.

The victim's daughter, Vernita McCoy, sued the Chicago Housing Authority for the cause of her mother's death in 1988.

The redevelopment plan also includes an integrated "campus" green space with Smyth School and Duncan YMCA.