Lake Parc Place: A Study of the First Four Years of a Mixed-Income Housing Program

Lake Parc Place is an innovative mixed-income housing project administered by the Chicago Housing Authority. The central component of the project is the fifty-fifty composition of low-income and working-class residents. This paper examines the success of the program in terms of the recruitment and social involvement of the working-class population. Also, the project is evaluated on its success in creating a safe and orderly public housing project. Finally, we examine the success of the project in terms of its goal to increase the employment of the low-income group through interaction with the working class.; The project succeeded in attracting both low-income and working-class residents and providing safer housing. However, residentsÕ perceptions of safety in the surrounding neighborhood did not improve over the four years measured. In regard to changing work patterns, the program failed to increase employment among either group. We found that while there was interaction between groups, employment among the residents in both classes declined.