Kori Robinson, 29, has lived in South Shore for more than two years and worries about her family’s future in the neighborhood.

In February, Robinson was laid off from her job in human resources. For now, she does not want to go back to work because of the high costs of child care, and her children’s father’s job is enough to support them. But the family’s costs may soon outpace their income, said Robinson, who lives with her 5-month-old, 2-year-old and their father.

Their landlord did not renew the lease for their three-bedroom apartment at the beginning of the year, instead switching them to month-to-month payments, which stand at $1,300. That number could change quickly under the terms of the agreement, Robinson said.

“That comes with its own set of anxiety, knowing that there are changes coming within the neighborhood and changes happening within the neighborhood already, and I have no guarantee in my living situation, on top of the fact that I am not working,” Robinson said, as her kids chattered in the background.

A group of community advocates and residents, along with Aldermen Desmon Yancy, 5th, and Jeanette Taylor, 20th, plan to introduce an ordinance Thursday at the City Council in an effort to preserve and create more affordable housing in the South Shore and Woodlawn neighborhoods, two communities where fears of gentrification and displacement from people like Robinson run high as the Obama Presidential Center takes shapes in nearby Jackson Park.

Voters in the neighborhoods overwhelmingly supported ballot referendums in February’s election for the proposed ordinance and the development of affordable housing on the vacant lots at 63rd Street and Blackstone Avenue in Woodlawn, a component of the proposed ordinance.

Yancy, elected this May to represent South Shore, said he intends to pass the legislation by the end of the year, though “I don’t expect it to necessarily be an easy pass because of all the budget issues that exist in the city right now.”

Still, the freshman alderman said his constituents need housing relief. Some South Shore residents get phone calls weekly from out-of-state speculators asking to purchase their condos and homes, he said.

“The question of displacement comes up almost every week, where I’m talking to one resident or another — be it renter, condo owner or homeowner — who has real, valid concerns with this development,” Yancy said. “How are we going to be able to protect against the displacement that typically comes following developments like this?”

Robinson said she hopes the ordinance will turn the vacant lots and boarded-up buildings near her apartment into more housing, bring resources such as grocery stores and doctor’s offices to the community and keep housing affordable for current residents.

The South Shore Housing Preservation Ordinance follows a similar — but less comprehensive — ordinance that was passed after five years of organizing and negotiations for the nearby Woodlawn neighborhood in 2020 through efforts from similar groups.

The ordinance proposes various programs to help renters and homeowners alike, including cash assistance.

For the renter population, which makes up the majority of South Shore, the ordinance calls for trial programs to expand tenant protections by establishing an Office of the Tenant Advocate, starting a tenant right-to-purchase initiative for renters whose landlords are selling their properties, and banning move-in fees.

For homeowners, the ordinance aims to create more affordable for-sale housing and fund grant programs for existing and prospective homeowners. Money would go toward programs such as the South Shore Loan Fund, which would set aside $5 million for the redevelopment of vacant homes, as well as $12 million in grants and down payment assistance for the Renew South Shore Program.

The ordinance also would earmark all vacant city-owned lots for the development of affordable housing, with displaced residents and residents at risk of displacement given priority for newly constructed affordable units.

Language in the ordinance calls for the measures to be supported through city funding but does not offer specifics.

[ Chicago aldermen approve Obama Presidential Center affordable housing plan ]

Dixon Romeo, a leader of the Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition, one of the groups behind the push for the Woodlawn and South Shore ordinances, said the South Shore ordinance comes out of years of meetings and feedback from community members who live in the area or who were displaced, as well as discussions with policy experts.

“Chicago has lost so many Black folks … and that should not be the legacy of this center,” said Romeo, who is also executive director of Not Me We, a community organization focused on the South Shore neighborhood.

Romeo said he hopes some policies included in the South Shore ordinance can be expanded citywide.

“We have an opportunity over these next couple of years, and right now, to really wrestle with and address what housing looks like in the city of Chicago,” Romeo said. “Who is Chicago welcome for and who is Chicago planning to keep? I think there is enough space for all of us, but what that means is we have to take some bold action and part of that is the South Shore Housing Preservation Ordinance.”

[ What will Obama center mean for nearby home values on the South Side? Wary of being priced out, groups push for housing benefits and protections ]

The ordinance’s language was crafted with the help of the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.

The ZIP code that includes South Shore has consistently seen the highest rates of eviction filings in Cook County, with about 3 out of every 1,000 South Shore households facing eviction in the second quarter of 2022, according to data compiled by University of Chicago’s Inclusive Economy Lab.

Yancy, the alderman, stressed that his constituents also stand to benefit from the presidential center — scheduled to open in 2025 at Jackson Park after years of delays and false starts related to legal and environmental challenges. A stone’s throw away, the East 71st Street corridor continues struggling to leave behind the shadow of disinvestment from the last three decades.

But the promise of the U.S.’s first Black president and first lady, the latter of whom is a South Shore native herself, paying homage to the South Side in particular excites many, Yancy said.

“When you think about South Shore and Woodlawn … this is the base of Obama’s votes in ‘08 and in ‘12,” Yancy said. “People are absolutely proud to be able to have this monument to him right down the street, but it comes with concern. Well, it’s a double-edged sword.”

[ Development, gentrification focus of aldermanic runoffs in South Side lakefront wards ]

In an emailed statement to the Tribune, an Obama Foundation spokesperson said the organization has been pleased to see affordable housing policies like the ordinance in Woodlawn be put in place to help longtime residents.

“People who have called this area home for decades should have access to the tools and policies they need to continue to do so,” the spokesperson said. “At the same time, we want to see property owners whose homes have been in their families sometimes for generations be able to realize gains on these assets that are often a family’s greatest path to wealth creation.”

Alvyn Walker, 54, has lived in South Shore on and off for the past 40 years, spending some time away while serving in the Army. Now, he works in consulting and lives with his mom at one of the single-family homes his family owns in the neighborhood.

Walker remembers the time when the neighborhood was bustling with commercial activity and had more schools and social activities before suffering an economic depression in the late 1990s.

More recently, he said he has seen property values soar, along with his family’s property taxes, as “we are starting to see the effects of gentrification.” He said he thinks the announcement of the Obama Presidential Center has contributed to the property taxes going up around $500 in recent years annually on his mother’s home.

He said he hopes the South Shore housing ordinance will help people like his 73-year-old mother, who is retired and on a fixed income, to be able to stay in their homes where they have lived for decades. The ordinance proposes a $2.3 million relief fund for people who are delinquent on their property tax payments.

“She might not be able to afford to continue living in South Shore,” Walker said. “I wouldn’t want to see my mom or anybody else who is in this situation being priced out of living in South Shore in their own homes.”

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