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Trump Administration to Dismiss Environmental Racism, Housing Discrimination Cases in Chicago

The feds had ruled that City Hall violated residents’ civil rights in a case involving the relocation of the General Iron scrap metal operator and a complaint over affordable rental units.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Environmental activists chant outside City Hall in 2023 to demand that the General Iron scrap-metal business not be allowed to operate on the Southeast Side. Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

The feds had ruled that City Hall violated residents’ civil rights in a case involving the relocation of the General Iron scrap metal operator and a complaint over affordable rental units.

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President Donald Trump has upended two years-long investigations into civil rights violations in Chicago, one that started with an unwanted scrap metal operator and another that deemed City Council members have discriminatory veto power to block affordable housing.

ProPublica reported Friday that the two Chicago cases are among seven that the Trump administration is dismissing. Complainants told the Sun-Times they were aware the Trump administration was about to dismiss the cases.

There is no official word from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which conducted the investigations, and the agency has not responded to multiple requests from the Sun-Times for comment.

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One high-profile case involved the General Iron scrap metal operation that was being relocated from white, affluent Lincoln Park to a low-income community of color on the Southeast Side.

Residents pushed back on the relocation of the polluting business, which shreds junk cars, appliances and other large items as a way to sell the metal for reuse. The city ultimately denied the business a permit to operate at East 116th Street and the Calumet River, citing pollution and health concerns.

In its investigation of the city’s policies related to the relocation of General Iron, the feds determined that Chicago habitually puts heavy industrial polluters in South Side and West Side neighborhoods, benefitting North Side communities that are largely white and wealthy.

That fair housing investigation by HUD resulted in a binding agreement that is still in effect. As part of the pact, the city agreed to push an ordinance that seeks to change zoning and land-use practices.

Mayor Brandon Johnson vowed to uphold the agreement, which was signed by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot on her last day in office. While an “environmental justice” ordinance has been introduced by Johnson, the City Council has not taken action. A spokesman for Johnson said he couldn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

HUD officials will no longer enforce that agreement, according to ProPublica’s reporting.

Another case involves the City Council’s use of a veto power known as aldermanic prerogative to prevent construction of affordable rental units.

In late 2023, the agency found City Council members wrongly kept affordable housing out of their wards using aldermanic prerogative.

HUD sent a strongly worded letter to City Hall saying that the local veto was “instrumental in creating Chicago’s patterns of segregation.”

The feds found that aldermanic prerogative was a veto that “disproportionately harms Black and Hispanic households who are far more likely than white households to need and qualify for affordable housing.”

Just months ago, it appeared that HUD was close to a binding civil rights agreement with Johnson’s administration that would require City Hall to make changes that encourage affordable housing in all 50 city wards. But an agreement was not reached. The 10 groups began negotiating with City Hall directly and hope to reach an agreement with Johnson.

“We condemn this decision by HUD and it flies in the face of decades of civil rights law, regulation and legal precedent,” Patricia Fron, executive director of Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance, said in a statement. “This is a gut punch to every individual who has been directly harmed by the loss of affordable housing units due to discriminatory decision making. There are no material grounds for which HUD can dismiss this case.”

However, she added, “we don’t need HUD, we are confident we can continue to work directly with the City on a resolution that meets the urgent needs for affordable housing.”

Cheryl Johnson, executive director of People for Community Recovery on the Far South Side who was a party to both complaints with HUD, said she was aware that the Trump actions were coming.

“If this is true, this still doesn’t stop our fight,” Johnson said.

Keith Harley, Johnson’s lawyer in the General Iron complaint, said he had unofficial communication that the HUD decision was about to be announced. As of Friday afternoon, he had not received official word.

“I encourage people to take another look at that document [about the environmental case] and what HUD investigators concluded three years ago,” Harley said.

City and state officials now need to step up efforts to stop discrimination, he added.

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