Some Chicago residents on the South Side are worried their rental prices may increase once the Barack Obama Presidential Center is completed. 

Some residents in Woodlawn, a neighborhood in the city, have been told their rents will increase upon the completion of the Chicago center. The Barack Obama Presidential Center is a museum, library, and education project to commemorate former President Barack Obama and is expected to open in 2026.

Pat Hightower, 81, told the Chicago Tribune that the project was “moving people out who have lived here for years, have raised children here, have homes … went to school here, went to church here.”

“One guy I talked to several months ago, his rent was $900. The owner told him he’d be charging $1,500 and told him once the Obama Center was completed, there would be people who moved in who could afford the rent,” she told the newspaper.

At the groundbreaking ceremony in 2021, the former president alongside Michelle Obama, both Chicago residents, stressed the importance of building the center on the city’s South Side for its influence in their lives. 

“Chicago is where I found the purpose that I had been seeking,” Barack Obama said at the time.

“One of my greatest honors is being a proud Chicagoan, a daughter of the South Side. I still lead with that descriptor. I wear it boldly and proudly like a crown,” Michelle Obama said.

Hightower is a part of the Community Benefits Agreement coalition, which met in June to talk with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson about getting the City Council to pass protections for renters and homeowners in the Woodlawn neighborhood and those surrounding it. The mayor has supported the coalition and a multimillion-dollar package of new programs for the area, but the proposal has been sitting idle in the City Council’s Housing Committee since October 2023.

Hightower asked Johnson straightforward “yes or no” questions at the June meeting to get him to commit to protecting the neighborhoods on the South Shore, which have some of the highest eviction rates in the city.

“Our friends, family, and neighbors are being displaced as we speak. We know that this will continue unless there is meaningful legislation passed to protect our neighborhoods,” Hightower told Johnson.

One city alderman, Desmon Yancy, backs the proposal, while some aldermen from the area don’t, believing it would be more beneficial to push homeownership. 

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“Frankly, this is a fight for the soul of South Shore. It’s not just about affordable housing,” he said, alluding to those who do not support the legislation, such as Alderman Greg Mitchell and Alderwoman Michelle Harris, who also represent the South Shore but have not backed the proposal.

“There are people who don’t believe that folks are housing-burdened,” Yancy said. “The average one-bedroom apartment costs around $1,200 a month where the median income in South Shore is around $2,000 a month. Like, the fact is, the math don’t math.”