Chicago Fire land lease lawsuit against Chicago Housing Authority and HUD dismissed
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A lawsuit filed by housing groups over the Chicago Housing Authority’s agreement to lease land to the Chicago Fire soccer club for a new training facility on the Near West Side was dismissed Friday.
Filed against the CHA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, the lawsuit alleged the deal to lease 23 acres of vacant CHA land in Roosevelt Square did not undergo proper local and federal reviews.
The Chicago Fire plans to build a 53,000-square-foot, two-story performance center with multiple soccer pitches at the site of the former ABLA Homes housing complex, bordered by Roosevelt Road, 14th Street, Ashland Avenue and Loomis Street.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin of the Northern District of Illinois found the housing groups that filed the lawsuit did not specify how their members would be harmed by CHA’s plans, so he ruled the groups did not have standing to file the lawsuit. The land has been vacant for 20 years, Durkin wrote, so no housing units would be displaced as a result of leasing the land to the Fire, and CHA had no immediate plans to redevelop the site.
“The potential of harm or benefit here is entirely speculative,” he wrote.
The suit was filed in June by the Coalition to Protect Chicago Housing Authority Land, the Chicago Housing Initiative and the Lugenia Burns Hope Center.
The lawsuit asked that HUD perform a full civil rights review, delay any further development of the site and compensate the plaintiffs for alleged damages. When performing a civil rights review, HUD evaluates whether or not a project would violate federal civil rights laws.
The deal has been mired in controversy from its inception. The City Council initially blocked the deal and then reversed course in September 2022, but housing advocates have continued to express their disapproval of CHA land being used for nonhousing purposes, including in letters to HUD and local demonstrations. Members of Congress also expressed concerns, sending letters to Fudge and CHA CEO Tracey Scott. The project broke ground April 25.
In his ruling, Durkin said even if he found in favor of the housing groups, that wouldn’t necessarily lead to the construction of more affordable housing units because the court doesn’t have the authority to force CHA to go through with its earlier plans to rebuild housing there.
“In the end, Plaintiffs’ objections stem from a philosophical difference — rather than a legal injury — as to how CHA manages its vacant land,” the judge wrote.
Don Washington, executive director of the Chicago Housing Initiative, said since the judge ruled that advocacy groups cannot file a suit like this, no one will be able to speak for the people who have been moved off of CHA land.
“This is like the starting gun for more deals like this, not just here in Chicago but across the country,” Washington said. “I think that people should be really worried about that because it just means that there is a mass abandonment of the commitment to the common good.”
HUD declined to comment.
CHA told the Tribune in an email statement that the agency is looking forward to continuing its investments in revitalizing its existing public housing stock thanks to the Chicago Fire deal.
“CHA welcomes this ruling as the carefully negotiated partnership with the Chicago Fire invests in families residing in CHA housing and the broader Near West Side community,” the statement said.
The agency said the training facility complements ongoing affordable housing development in the immediate area, including 222 new mixed-income apartments expected to be finished next year. The remaining vacant CHA parcels in the Roosevelt Square area are slated for future phases of affordable housing development, CHA said.
The Chicago Fire declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying the organization was not directly involved. But it issued a statement saying it looked forward to developing a “world-class performance and training center on the Near West Side that will also benefit the local community.”
“In addition to serving as a state-of-the-art home for our sporting operations, this facility will generate additional funds for housing, safe spaces for local youth to participate in free sports programming, long-term employment opportunities for residents and much more,” the statement said.
In a September court hearing, Durkin urged HUD to make an agreement with the plaintiffs for the agency to perform a civil rights review before he ruled on the case. Durkin said he would not rule on the case until discussions were held. Settlement discussions are confidential.
Emily Coffey, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, said Friday’s ruling does not address or endorse the legality of the decisions made by CHA and HUD to lease the land to the Chicago Fire.
Coffey, director of equitable community development and housing at the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, said the plaintiffs are reviewing the ruling and evaluating their options.
In a September news conference ahead of the court hearing, Roderick Wilson, executive director of the Lugenia Burns Hope Center, said the land was taken from the Black community that used to reside there.
“They are taking public housing land from our community that is supposed to be for housing,” Wilson said.
In a Monday interview with the Tribune, Wilson said he was disappointed by the ruling.
“This is not a philosophical difference,” Wilson said, citing the judge’s finding. “This is a real life difference. People were displaced out of their homes with a promise from the government ... to rebuild the housing, and they haven’t done it.”
