At Issue: Chicago Needs To Reduce Segregation, Advocacy Groups

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Advocacy groups are sounding a warning that the Chicago area needs to reduce racial and economic segregation, or it will lose billions of dollars each year.

WBBM's Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports:

Alden Loury, research director for the Metropolitan Planning Council, says their study shows that if the Chicago region were not so segregated, it would have a gross domestic product of $4.4 billion a year higher than it is. Something, he says, people in all areas should care about that.

The study shows that segregation costs the Chicago regions billions in gross domestic product each year, and leads to fewer college degrees and a higher homicide rate. Why should people who live in unsegregated areas care? Juan Carlos Linares, director of the Latuin United Community Housing Association, said to look at your property tax bill. Segregated areas cost more to police, something all residents end up paying for.