Quote · The Indicator from Planet Money
Obama's new Presidential Center and his tricky relationship with the South Side
Where this was said
Housing Prices Have Soared: The Data on Displacement
At 23:00 · chapter starts 22:35
The conversation reaches its most data-grounded moment when Myra Kwadja cites a recent Illinois Answers Project report on real estate in Woodlawn. The numbers are stark: the median sale price of a single-family home in the neighborhood has jumped 4.6 times over the past decade. [1] — Myra Kwadja "The median sale price of a single-family home in Woodlawn has jumped 4.6 times in the past decade. Zillow now lists some homes in the neigh…" 22:35 If you browse Zillow, you'll find listings at $1 million in a neighborhood that was historically working-class. 'So yes, people have been displaced,' Kwadja says plainly. Gene Demby then asks how the Obama Foundation responded to all this pushback over the years. Natalie Moore explains that they largely stayed on message — 'This development is for the community, the South Side matters to us' — while effectively punting on housing questions by noting that the city of Chicago, not the Foundation, owns the land in question. Moore broadens the frame: Woodlawn is not unique. Chicago as a whole is experiencing a citywide housing crisis, rents are high everywhere, and very few neighborhoods are exempt from affordability pressures. The Obama Center is a catalyst in a pre-existing crisis, not its sole cause.
The median sale price of a single-family home in Woodlawn has jumped 4.6 times in the past decade. Zillow now lists some homes in the neighborhood at $1 million. People have been displaced. The data is not ambiguous.
The median sale price of a single-family home in Woodlawn has jumped 4.6 times over the past 10 years, with some homes now listing for $1 million on Zillow.
In 2017, Obama was directly asked whether the Obama Foundation would sign a community benefits agreement to protect housing. He declined, saying no group speaks for the whole community and that people should trust him. The irony: he built his entire political identity as a community organizer.
