" In 1958, a U.S Supreme court case ruled that the courts could not enforce practices that maintain racial exclusion, but realtors simply refused to show housing to African Americans in white areas, and the federal government did nothing to intervene (4).
Currently, according to the 2000 U.S census bureau there is an estimated 3 million people living in Chicago. 48.5% male, 51.5% female. 42% white, 36.8% black, 26% Latino, and 4% Asian. There are roughly 1 million total housing units, 43.8% owner occupied, and 56.2% is renter occupied. The average household size is 2.67 persons. These figures don't show wide, population of homeless, and transient people in the city. Of the population recorded that are 16 and over, 6.2% are unemployed. 16.6% of families are below poverty level (5). .
In the past 10 years, Mayor Daley have been making gradual changes to the city through gentrification, the renovation of older low-cost neighborhoods to accommodate wealthier residence, urban renewal, remodeling parks, stadiums, highways, and planting trees. What used to be a big city to suburban migration have now shifted to being a main attraction for suburbanites to move here. The baby boom generation is now aging and no longer wants to commute to the city daily to work. So they're starting to move back to the city in droves. More and more people are putting off having children in pursuit of their careers. They are known as the D.I.N.K couples (double-income, no kids) (6). They drive the housing market up because they have the money to pay for the high rents and morgages. As the demand for housing increases, so the the cost for them. Property value in Chicago has skyrocketed, almost excluding median income families(6). Even rental prices have increased drastically. Also more and more rental units are being converted into condominiums. Families who are low-income have to leave these places, or starve trying to pay the high prices.