Black Chicago Residents Say Obama Center Is Pushing Them Out of Neighborhood

According to reports by the Washington Post, black families that have been living in Chicago’s South Side area claim that the upcoming museum complex that aims to honor the first black president, Barack Obama, is causing gentrification, resulting in elevated rent prices which are forcing them out of their homes.

The Obama Presidential Center, whose construction started in 2021, has reportedly displaced long-term black residents because of increasing rent costs. Median rent in the area has increased by 43%, and home values more than doubled since the start of construction.

“This is about real people, and we do not want the Obama Center to be another page in the long history of displacing black people or doing harm to black families,” shared one Chicago resident to the Post.

The $500 million center aims to provide amenities to the South Side such as a library and playground. Landowners see the center as an opportunity to adjust their rent prices, viewing it as a community luxury.

“This investment, this substantial investment in the South Side will help make the neighborhood, where we call home, a destination for the entire world,” Michelle Obama expressed during the center’s groundbreaking in 2021. “But more importantly, this project, as the governor and mayor have said, will be a vital resource for the people who live here.”

However, another resident expressed a different perspective, stating that the Obama Center is not being built exclusively for Chicago but rather for the entire world.