Neighborhood around Taylor and Racine

[fine_where_I_am]

Section 8 projects are like any housing project. Section 8 housing vouchers are different... they are tenant based. Any apartment complex, basically any in the whole USA, might have section 8 voucher tenants.
"Section 8" has always been more like a shorthand for the "Housing Choice Voucher Program" (administered by CHAC in Chicago, rather than the Chicago Housing Authority CHAC: Chicago Housing Choice Voucher Program )

Humboldt1, would you rent to an elderly person with a housing voucher? How about a disabled person? People who can't work and live on SSI need a place to live somehow. Or are those elderly people tainted drug dealers?

[Humboldt1]

Fine where I am,

You make a valid point. I would rent to disabled or elderly with vouchers, provided they didn't have any of their riff raff family move in with them, which is so often the case.

Basically, I am stuck with my building in Humboldt and will be renting to low income people for the foreseeable future. I don't like the red tape associated with sec8 but if I found the right disabled or elderly person on sec8 I would consider them. I would want a good long-term tenant and if they fit the bill fine.

My place in itasca is too pricey for housing vouchers which fine as there are plenty of yuppies willing to pay good money to rent it.

For the future I am looking to buy apartment buildings in more affluent areas such as bucktown and lakeview, though I have looked at logan square. I want to rent to yuppies who will pay good rents on time. I am tired of dealing with riff raff in humboldt park who have no assets to go after should they decide to stop paying their rents. I may never get yuppies in my humboldt park building but as long as I find decent folks who can pay the rent on time it will be okay.

[fine_where_I_am]

It is tough... sometimes you just never know what you'll get.
Does it help to require a large security deposit in Humboldt Park? Or does that detour a lot of potential renters?

[NearWestSider]

There has been a fatal mugging on the campus of UIC!

The Chicago Falcons, a notorious aviary gang that has staked out turf on and around University Hall, struck again last week.

Read all about it here:

UIC News - Falcon tales: peregrine drama includes birth, death

"The falcon found dead March 12 apparently was the victim of a territorial battle with Rosie or her mate, said bird expert Mary Hennen of the Field Museum.

The dead bird, identified from his leg band as Perry, fledged from a nest in Milwaukee in 2003. No sightings of him had been reported since.

Crippled by his scrape with the tough UIC birds, Perry the peregrine was moving around at the base of University Hall when he was startled by a passerby, Padera said.

He flew to a first-floor ledge on nearby Stevenson Hall, but collapsed and fell to the ground. Worried because the bird was on a walkway, a well-meaning student picked him up and moved him.

The falcon died soon afterward."

We can only hope and pray that the Milwaukee Peregrines don't come looking for revenge. Would "Operation Ceasefire" be willing to inervene if they do?

[chet everett]

While your post about the "circle of life" is meant to be humorous, I can't help but think there OUGHT to be a heckuva lot of worries around UIC. The sales tax is going to really whack any plans of retailers to expand into the overpriced tiny slots carved out for them on the ground floors ot Halsted/Taylor. The overbuilding of condos EVERYWHERE is going destroy any shot at resale for a really long time.

With foreclosures soaring people are going to need somewhere to live -- what better way to get some of the good Bill Ayers diversity than getting all those people who graciously took hand outs from the City and developers to move into lofts than to accept Sec8 neighbors...

I think a lot feathers are going to get ruffled around Taylor, even more so if the Olympics head to Brazil instead over here.

hakuna matata

[NearWestSider]

Sounds like you've had a few too many FUD-sicles, and its affected your judgment.

Anyway, this is a troll-free zone. So scram before I tell Rosie the peregrine to kick YOUR ass.

[cframe]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Drover is right in that there is a good-sized dash of "urban hell" in the vicinity of Tri-Taylor/Little Italy. But stay tuned... This is one of the most rapidly changing areas of the city, and today's news about the area is already outdated. I for one am very curious to see the outcome of the changes on the near southwest side. I feel safer in my little corner of Uptown, however.

I have lived in Little Italy for the past 5 yrs and have felt very safe. Little Italy is one of the hidden gems in Chicago. Taylor St. has the best Italian food in the city, an excellent French restaurant (Chez Joel), a great wine bar (Beviamo). It has some great streets including Bishop st., and the section of Lexington St. by Arrigo Park. You are also right by the major expressways and only 4 el stops from the loop. And its relatively reasonably priced. Great neighborhood to raise a family.

[long101]

i live a couple blocks away from the taylor area but my girlfriend lives around there so we are around there quite a bit. It is very safe in that area, if you go a few blocks past roosevelt then it gets a little iffy, but thats the way i live and im fine. There is tons of police around there too. Walking down taylor you will litterally see a car every 2 or 3 minutes.