Tension in a Chicago Housing Authority mixed-income development on the Near West Side is subsiding.
Westhaven Park Tower -- on the footprint of the Henry Horner public housing complex -- is home to condo owners and public housing residents. This mix has led to some squabbles.
To quell some of the stress Westhaven agreed to add two CHA residents to the condo board. Johnnie Braswell is one of them. She says public housing residents now have a more equitable voice.
BRASWELL: I’d like us to be more sociable with each other because right now we’re not.
And Braswell says condo owners complain about CHA residents hanging out longer than 15 minutes in the lobby. But she says most complaints have been more mundane.
BRASWELL: Most of the complaints since we’ve been on the board is about the dogs’ poop.
CHA is banking on mixed income to break cycles of poverty by creating new neighborhoods.