As Woodlawn, the community to the immediate south of the University, becomes more economically and racially contiguous with Hyde Park, residents there and members of the University community are struggling to make sense of the new geographic reality.

Chamar Brown had 40 days to get out. When he returned home from a trip on July 21, he was notified that he had until the end of August to vacate his apartment at 62nd Street and St. Lawrence Avenue.

Among the difficulties of moving, Brown has to make time to look for a new home and scrape together an extra month's rent for his next apartment.

Renters like Brown cite the rising monthly prices as proof that they will be forced out. Some long-time homeowners, meanwhile, have had their homes ?stolen? out from under them, turning over their deeds to land-grabbers for far less than the true value.

All civic organizations involved in Woodlawn, including the University, are unequivocal in their support for low-income housing. But they also say there is no way to assure a set number of low-income houses, citing the economic realities of the real estate market.

Woodlawn residents who own homes, especially young people who inherited houses and have little experience caring for property, are losing their real estate to taxes and aggressive speculators, who offer small but alluring quantities of hard cash in exchange for property deeds.

Renters face a different situation. They are being squeezed as monthly fees tick upward, and must either cope with higher prices or find cheaper places to live.

The housing picture in Woodlawn is muddied by a paucity of concrete information, different community groups say, but they make clear that the sizzling real estate market could drive residents out.

Small homes and three-flat apartments dot 62nd Street near Ellis Avenue. One of the houses used to belong to Calvin Jones, but he sold it three years ago for $70,000 to pay property tax.

Karen King, the director of the Woodlawn New Communities Program (NCP), the umbrella organization for community redevelopment, said that this type of land grab is happening all over the community.

According to 2000 U.S. Census data, almost 30 percent of the owner-occupied homes in Woodlawn are less than $70,000. More than 35 percent of the homes are between $70,000 to $100,000.

To protect homeowners from selling their homes far below market value, the NCP is developing programs and newsletters to teach Woodlawn residents about responsible homeownership.

While community institutions are working to minimize the number of poor residents who might be forced out, King said it is very possible that some will leave Woodlawn.

Sonya Malunda, the University's director of Community Affairs, said Woodlawn needs a better system of tracking and managing the supply of affordable housing.

Alex Goldenberg, an organizer with the Student Tenant Organizing Project and fourth-year in the College, said that his organization is currently compiling information about housing in Woodlawn.

King said that the community has probably seen an increase in Section-8 voucher residents because Woodlawn landlords have grown to accept the arrangement, in which they receive part of the rent from residents and part from government subsidy.

The largest public housing complex in Woodlawn is Grove Parc Plaza, a 504-unit honeycomb of low-rise apartment buildings along Cottage Grove Avenue.

Conceived during the University's negotiations with the Temporary Woodlawn Organization (TWO) during the early '60s, Grove Parc is the center of conversation about low-income housing in Woodlawn. Its closing would drastically alter the real estate picture?both for low-income residents looking for housing, and for real estate developers considering the overall quality of the neighborhood.

Residents said living conditions are deplorable. One resident, Monique, said her apartment was in an unlivable condition. Roaches, rats, leaking ceilings, and ringworm in the playground were all problems in the building, Monique said.

Tiana, another Grove Parc resident who feared she could lose her apartment if her full name was used, said there are rumors that the building will close.

Rudy Nimocks, chairman of the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corporation, which owns the complex, admitted that the buildings need extensive work but said there is not enough funding.

Nimocks said that the biggest problem at Grove Parc is criminal activity and drug trafficking. He noted that officers have identified 65 to 70 apartments that are drug dens or the homes of drug dealers.

Nimocks said he does not foresee any low-income residents being priced out of Woodlawn. Visions of Woodlawn as a yuppie community with a Starbucks on each corner are simply incorrect, he argued, and the demand for high-end homes will not be great enough to push out the low-income residents.

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