HISTORIC TOWN TILTS TOWARD EXTINCTION
HUD plans to raze public housing and relocate 400 Cairo residents
CAIRO, ILL. This once- bustling port town at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers has faced no shortage of struggles since explorers Lewis and Clark first landed on its muddy shores in 1803.
The city at the southern- most tip of Illinois has endured the persistent threat of flooding, the diminished importance of rivers as a transportation mode and some of the ugliest racial clashes seen in the North.
Now, this historic community of fewer than 2,400 — down from a peak of 15,205 residents nearly a century ago — is in danger of losing about 15% of its population, including about 40% of its public school students, as federal authorities plan to relocate residents from two decrepit public housing developments.
The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will start relocating about 400 low- income residents living in the Elmwood and McBride apartments by the end of the month, agency spokesman Jereon Brown said. The two low- rise develop-
ments built in the early 1940s are ravaged by mold, rodent and cockroach infestations as well as plumbing and electrical problems that housing officials say make the squat World War II- era apartment complexes uninhabitable.
Despite the dismal conditions, some longtime residents are fearful and angry about the prospect of moving from this storied town that Mark Twain celebrated in his Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, city leaders once boasted as a “Little Chicago” and Union soldiers used as a strategic operating base at the start of the CivilWar.
“I don’t want to leave and get pushed to live in some big city,” said Earlene Lyons, 52, whose Elmwood apartment was recently damaged by a fire she said was caused by an electrical malfunction in the kitchen. “This is what I know. This is where I feel comfortable.”
There are perhaps only a few dozen vacant units in the city that could take in the displaced residents — nowhere near enough to accommodate the 183 households requiring relocation.
In a letter last month to the city’s school superintendent, Andrea Evers, HUD Secretary Ben Carson said a search for viable solutions to preserve affordable housing opportunities within Cairo came up empty. HUD estimates the two housing projects need $ 7.6 million in repairs; building new housing would cost about $ 70 million.
The situation, Carson said, is exacerbated by the fact that the city’s privately operated utilities company charges abnormally high rates— making it impractical to rehabilitate the more than 200 vacant or abandoned properties in Cairo to fill the housing need.
Many residents at Elmwood and McBride say they gritted through the deplorable living conditions because utilities were included in their subsidized rent. In privately subsidized housing, they’d most likely be responsible for paying their utilities.
“If there was another way to keep … residents in decent, safe, sanitary housing, we’d exercise that option,” Carson wrote.
The federal agency swooped into control of Cairo’s public housing in February 2016, taking over for the Alexander County housing agency because of what it called gross mismanagement. At the time of the takeover, HUD said it repeatedly pushed the county agency to fix problems, but local authorities did little to address the issues.
Residents say the county agency for years ignored complaints about the deteriorating conditions and mismanaged taxpayer funding intended for repairs. HUD’s Office of the Inspector General is investigating.
Carson’s decision doesn’t sit well with some residents and city leaders, who say the federal government could do more to help residents who want to remain. They also complain that HUD shares responsibility for the crisis by not doing a better job of overseeing the local housing authority.
Cairo’s fortunes, along with its population, have been on the decline for much of the past century. It’s a berg without a grocery store, gas station or many places to spend money in its largely vacant downtown.
In the past five years, the city has seen more than two dozen businesses, five churches and five social service agencies close. The median home value has fallen to $ 33,900.
With state funding of schools tied to student enrollment numbers, Evers said the district — the largest employer in Cairo with a staff of 78 — is in danger of deep cuts if public housing residents are forced to leave.