Rents keep going up while our incomes are flat. Thousands of people are doubling up, living in overcrowded apartments.
Some people got caught by the mortgage scams and subprime loans.
The "developers" keep taking over buildings, pushing people out. They're counting on Pilsen to fatten their bank accounts.
The ABLA homes are being squeezed again.
Fifteen thousand people were pushed out when most of the ABLA projects were closed, then "redeveloped" and renamed Roosevelt Square.
Rents for people who were able to stay went up.
So-called "developers" would like to close the projects altogether and "redevelop" the whole area like they've already done with much of the near west side.
Working people are being pushed out of their homes throughout Chicago.
Places like the South Loop and the whole area around UIC used to be full of working class residents – today, these areas are filled with expensive housing workers can't afford.
The city all but stopped funding the projects, leaving them to decay – then closed them altogether, destroying tens of thousands of homes.
In other neighborhoods, "developers" pushed people out of their homes, refurbished the buildings, then charged more than working people could afford.
If the "developers" have their way, Chicago will be turned into a city only for the rich. And the 25th Ward is on the chopping block.
The capitalist drive for profit is stripping our cities bare.
We won't be able to keep our homes unless we fight for them.
Yes, it's true, few people are fighting today.
But working people in Chicago have the power to back these "developers" off.
Chicago is still a working class city. We work alongside each other. We live together. These are our neighborhoods. We have numbers, and that can count – when we decide to fight.
A fight that started in this ward could spread to other parts of the city and to other cities. It could light the working class fire that needs to spread!