[3][4][5][6] In 2000, the CHA began its Plan For Transformation, which called for the demolition of all of its gallery high-rise buildings and proposed a renovated housing portfolio totaling 25,000 units.

The plan includes the rehabilitation of other scattered-site, senior, and lower-density properties; construction of mixed-income housing; increasing economic sales around CHA developments; and providing educational and job training to residents with Section 8 vouchers.

[34] Many lots remain vacant decades after demolition, and the CHA has been selling, leasing, or trading land in gentrifying neighborhoods to other government agencies and the private sector for less than market value.

[35] One notable resident, Chicago alderwoman Jeanette Taylor, revealed that she applied for assistance as a single mother in 1993 and received an approval letter almost thirty years later in May 2022.

It was a long-running case that in 1987 resulted in HUD taking over the CHA for over 20 years and the formation of the Gautreaux Project in which public housing families were relocated to the suburbs.

At each of the six sites, certain terms of the 2019 Settlement Agreement will remain in place up to three additional years, or less time if the parties agree that CHA has completed the requirements sooner.

[44] In June 2023, Several groups including the Chicago Housing Initiative and the Lugenia Burns Hope Center sued CHA of illegally planning to lease public housing land at the former ABLA Homes to Joe Mansueto, one of then-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's campaign donors to build a training complex for his professional soccer team Chicago Fire.

[45][46] In the summer of 2023, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) board approved a significant salary increase for its CEO, Tracey Scott, raising her annual compensation to $300,000.

[47] This raise, supported by the CHA board, notably exceeds the federal salary cap for public housing authority executives, which is set at $176,300 according to the 2022 Appropriations Act.

The approval of this substantial salary boost attracted considerable scrutiny due to its deviation from federal guidelines designed to regulate executive compensation within public agencies.

The land, long reserved for housing by federal regulations, was leased to the Fire, which is owned by billionaire business leader and Lightfoot campaign donor Joe Mansueto, for at least 40 years to build a new training facility.

Federal law mandates that any such lease or sale must serve the "best interest" of low-income residents, raising questions about whether the deal aligned with this requirement and fueling broader criticism of the CHA's decisions and priorities.