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What is the Keeping the Promise Campaign?

Jul 7, 2016
1 min read
The Keeping the Promise Campaign is an effort to drop homelessness in Chicago and dramatically increase access to affordable housing at no cost to Chicago’s City Government through reforming the Chicago Housing Authority.

Reforming the Chicago Housing Authority is the key to ending homelessness in Chicago by holding the Chicago Housing Authority to higher standards about CHA’s use of federal and city funds, we can literally provide housing to tens of thousands of Chicago families currently struggling to provide their children with a decent, stable home.

According to CHA’s latest financial report (FY2012), the Chicago Housing Authority is sitting on surplus cash of more than $432 million— To put that in perspective, CHA’s cash stockpile is larger than the whole City of Chicago’s budget deficit for 2014.

The CHA has accumulated this cash surplus by deciding to circulate 13,500 fewer housing vouchers than HUD has funded CHA to provide annually.

In addition, CHA leaves thousands of its physical public housing units vacant year after year, and CHA’s progress in rebuilding public housing has plummeted since 2011.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of families and seniors languish on CHA’s waiting lists. Many sleep in their cars or on the streets, find refuge in a homeless shelter, or double up with family members to survive—- all while public funding intended to help them continues to pile up, with no plan and no explanation.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

26 Comments


roebelkim
5 days ago

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aikisssgo
Aug 24

This is such an important initiative—it’s heartbreaking to think of thousands of families waiting for housing while the CHA sits on over $432 million in surplus. Holding the agency accountable for underused vouchers and vacant units is a clear, practical step toward real change. I appreciate how the campaign frames reform as a no-cost solution for the city, which makes it hard to ignore. Stories like this remind me how creative tools can also help people express care and connection, even in small ways. For example, you can use an AI Kissing Video Generator to turn cherished photos into a romantic keepsake—a lighthearted way to celebrate the loved ones we fight to house and protect. Thanks for shedding light on…

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The detail about CHA sitting on a cash surplus larger than the entire City of Chicago's budget deficit while families sleep in cars and shelters is the kind of statistic that should have generated far more public outrage than it did. The fact that 13,500 fewer housing vouchers were being circulated than HUD had actually funded is not an oversight that is a policy decision with real human consequences attached to it. I was researching public housing accountability frameworks for a university application essay last year, and while working through the material using a SOP Writing Service for University to structure my arguments clearly, this campaign kept coming up as one of the more straightforward examples of institutional failure hiding in…

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This is such an important and eye-opening piece of campaigning. The detail about the Chicago Housing Authority sitting on a cash surplus of over $432 million while tens of thousands of families remain on waiting lists or sleep in their cars is genuinely shocking and the comparison to the entire city's budget deficit makes that figure land even harder. The fact that this situation exists not because of a funding gap but because of deliberate administrative decisions makes accountability reform feel both urgent and entirely achievable.

I came across this post while studying public sector resource management for my university coursework. I have been using IWFM Assignment Help materials to work through a facilities and asset management module, and the Keeping…

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