CHAnge or CHAos? The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) hired Leo Burnett to create a new public relations campaign touting the agency's radical reshaping of public housing in the Windy City. But their "This is CHAnge" headlines were too much for activists to take: a new campaign has gone up in bus shelters and interior bus ads exposing the realities of life for low-income residents of Chicago, under the headline "This is CHAos." The first phase of counter ads feature five powerbrokers who represent those who'll gain from the privatizing of public housing and the repurposing of public lands, and a second campaign will include testimonials from those who'll lose: as a press release for ChicagoHousingAuthority.net (not to be confused with the CHA's official site) reads: "If you are a working mother displaced by the demolition of your home,waiting over 6 months for a voucher to relocate,as your children are shifted from school to school,CHAnge feels a lot more like CHAos."

The ad shown here features mayor Daley, who is "presiding over an unprecedented boom in housing for the rich." It asserts that land once used for public housing is being sold to for-profit developers and, as part of the sweeping changes at CHA, has contributed to the destruction of 14,000 homes. It concludes with a jab at the new Michigan Avenue art park, "If the mayor has the energy to raise $450 million for Millennium Park, shouldn't he also be able to raise money for Chicago families in urgent need of affordable housing?"

(Via the Wooster Collective.)