The Right to Return: Returning Public-Housing Families and Their Decision-Making Processes on Schooling

The history of housing and school policy in Chicago helps to frame the argument that poor and minority populations have had the least access to decent affordable housing and education. The demarcations and stigmas of being poor, black and living in public housing in Chicago creates a unique opportunity to tell the story of the experiences of the families that were displaced and ultimately returned. The following chapters seek to tell the story of displacement policy and its aftermath, especially as it relates to how families made school-choice decisions upon returning. Of particular importance is understanding displacement policy from the perspective of those who were affected, whether such policies led to further isolation, and the types of decisions families were forced to make in order to negotiate the change in their lives. The story of public housing and schooling for Blacks in Chicago has a chartered history of isolation, segregation, disengagement, and indignation.