-- Media Advisory --

June 1, 2004                                                      Contact: Deidre Brewster, cell: 773-610-4913                                                                                            Noah Leavitt, 312-663-0960

Cabrini Residents File Lawsuit to Stop Chicago Housing Authority from Illegally Evicting Hundreds of Tenants

Historic Lawsuit alleges that 180–Day Relocation Notices

Violate International Human Rights Law

Chicago, IL:     On Thursday, June 3, 2004, the Cabrini-Green Local Advisory Council (“LAC”) and eight individual Cabrini-Green residents will file a lawsuit against the Chicago Housing Authority for violating federal fair housing laws.  Last month CHA handed out 180-day eviction notices to hundreds of Cabrini-Green Residents.  In response, the residents and the LAC are demanding the immediate cessation of the 180-day notices of eviction-for-demolition given to Cabrini residents, and that all relocation and demolition activity is halted immediately. 

Carol Steele, Cabrini resident and President of the LAC, says, “Just like we are rallying behind the troops in Iraq, we will rally behind the residents of Cabrini-Green to keep them from being made homeless.  We are both fighting principalities.”

WHERE:            Behind  939 N. Hudson St, Chicago,  IL

WHEN:              Thursday,  June 3 at 12 noon

These forced evictions violate numerous human rights laws that provide for adequate housing.  Miloon Kothari, the United Nation’s highest-ranking expert on housing issues who recently visited Cabrini-Green, has stated that evictions of public housing residents in the United States clearly violate international human rights, including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.