Rebuilding a community: Initative builds affordable homes on empty lots on South and West sides
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Thousands of lots have been sitting empty for years in neighborhoods on Chicago's South and West sides, but ground is breaking on new affordable homes.
As CBS 2's Noel Brennan reports, community leaders gathered to start the process of reclaiming and rebuilding their neighborhood.
An empty lot leaves plenty of room for hope, and Rev. James T. Meeks can picture change in Roseland on the Far South Side.
"These are blighted communities. They were food deserts," Meeks said. "Nothing can happen there but bad stuff, and so we want to revitalize that. We want to change some of these communities. It has to start somewhere. It starts right here on this lot, and it starts right now."
Meeks is founder of the Hope Center Foundation, which is joining an initiative led by the community organization United Power.
"United Power leaders want freedom from the corrosive reality of more than 10,000 city-owned vacant lots," said Amy Totsch, lead organizer for United Power.
The project will reclaim and rebuild on Chicago's empty lots. Work started in 2019 with the aim of building 2,000 affordable single family homes on the South and West sides.
United Power secured $17.5 million to build.
"Block by block, so that we can see neighborhoods revitalized and we have momentum to build off of," Totsch said.
United Power says it's already seen progress with similar work in Chicago Lawn on the Southwest Side.
"There in a 20 block area, the violent crime has gone down by 70% where we've addressed all the vacants, and the two local schools have improved from level three to level one," said Totsch.
There are still thousands of empty lots, but each new home builds hope for a neighborhood.
"We've decided to organize good people and change these communities," said Meeks.
United Power says 60 homes are being built right now across four neighborhoods on the city's South and West sides. The work starts in Roseland with 11 lots.
Leaders behind the campaign say the first four owners of new homes in Roseland have already been approved.
