Dozens Gather to Support Rockford Housing Authority After Council Vote

Monday, January 26, 2015

Dozens Gather to Support Rockford Housing Authority After Council Vote by Christie Nicks January 26, 2015 MyStateline  ROCKFORD — The Rockford Housing Authority needs grant money to carry out it’s plans for a complex transformation, but some aldermen say the city doesn’t need any more public housing. Sesheta Whittier clings to a vision of a better home while living in Rockford’s Fairgrounds housing complex. “With them tearing everything up and rebuilding, everything will be nice,” said Whittier. She’s one of a dozen people who gathered Monday night at City Hall in support of the Rockford Housing Authority, after a contentious start to the city council meeting. “I want to stop, and I want us to breathe,” said Ron Clewer, CEO of Rockford Housing Authority. He’s upset that aldermen voted against an effort to secure a federal housing grant worth $28 million. The money, in part, would go toward demolishing Fairgrounds and relocating residents to a place similar to the Jane Addams apartments. “We absolutely must do something to improve Fairgrounds,” said Clewer, “‘No’ is not acceptable. We can’t leave it as it is, we must do something together and we need to come to terms on what that is.” But 5th Ward alderman Venita Hervey says the city doesn’t need better public housing. “I’d like to see them not build any projects. Zero,” said Ald. Venita Hervey, 5th Ward. “Take the money that you’re using for projects and [use it for] programs for mandatory self sufficiency.” The City has 1,900 public housing units, which Clewer admits is high for a city of Rockford’s size. Alderman Hervey says she lives in the southwest side where many of them are located, and the impact has been devastating. “Public housing has destroyed our neighborhoods,” said Hervey. “It has built a culture of dependency, multigenerational poverty, and crime and drugs and gangs. No one wants to talk about that. Nothing that I see in their transformation plan changes that.” But for RHA residents like Sesheta, the dispute won’t be enough to keep them down. “If they don’t do something, we’re going to have to do it ourselves,” said Whittier. Read the article here at MyStateline: http://www.mystateline.com/fulltext-news/d/story/dozens-gather-to-support-rockford-housing-authorit/26240/zaUBuWbSIU-ddvdYwlGNnw]]>