The statistics are startling. The challenges are numerous. As reasonably priced housing units are becoming scarce, residents of Chicago and surrounding communities are confronting situations such as these:

• Being unable to find affordable apartments within a two-hour commute from their jobs.
• Paying more than half of their income just for a roof over their heads (one in five local renters do this).
• Living on fixed incomes and watching their property taxes become more expensive than their groceries.
• Experiencing being denied access to certain neighborhoods or certain kinds of housing because of age, race, or disability.

In the Spring of 2002, CHICAGO MATTERS: INSIDE HOUSING examined the forces that have shaped our region's current housing troubles, as well as the issues of race and class with which housing and residential patterns are inextricably linked.

After the Fall
A hard look at the future of public housing in Chicago, probing the hopes and fears of residents as they watch the world they have known come crashing down. Produced by Jay Shefsky.

A Way Home Is there hope for the homeless and working poor? This program tells how one local not-for-profit organization is transforming lives by offering the homeless more than just a place to live by providing essential supportive services and a crucial sense of community. Produced by Kathleen Quinn.

The More Things Change
The impact of gentrification can be displacement. WTTW revisits Teresa Fraga (a Pilsen resident first interviewed by Channel 11 two decades ago), as rising property taxes in her Mexican-American community are forcing longtime residents to sell their homes. Produced by David Rivera.

No Place To Live
This documentary explores the challenges of the current affordable housing shortage in metropolitan Chicago, and presents potential solutions. Produced by The Chicago Video Project.

A House Divided
Phil Ponce moderates this one-hour series finale, bringing together the individuals featured in the preceding four documentaries with an audience of housing advocates. They'll drive home the issues we all need to understand to successfully address our community's housing challenges. Produced by Leonard Aronson.