Evanston residents and others demonstrated on July 16 against a housing project for women and their children to be located in an area protestors call the “West End Majority Minority residential neighborhood.”
Housing Opportunities for Women (HOW) plans to begin construction on the 24-unit building, which will offer supportive/transitional housing, on the corner of Pitner Avenue and Dempster Street.
The City’s Zoning Department certified last year that the project complied with existing zoning laws and did not require any variances.
In a prepared statement, West End residents say they “were not afforded the opportunity to decide what is being put in our neighborhood and what will directly impact our property values.”
The West End residents also say that the project is being placed in a majority minority neighborhood and constitutes environmental racism. The protestors also say that although Evanston residents may apply to live in the proposed building, no preference will be given to Evanston residents.