Politics and International Relations

Paul B. Fischer

Emeritus Professor, Department of Politics

Politics

Specialization

Urban Politics
American Politics
Urban Affairs
Race and Housing

Interests

The Future of Cities
American Elections
Federal Housing Policy
Race and Housing 

Education

PhD University of Massachusetts
MA City College of New York
BA City College of New York

Courses Taught

Politics 120: American Politics
Politics 220: Political Parties
Politics 221: The Presidency
Politics 223: Urban and Suburban Politics
Politics 328: Race and Racism
Politics 480: Senior Seminar on Race and Housing

Articles

Racial Concentration and the CHA Relocation Program, A report being prepared for the National Poverty Law Center in Chicago. Spring 2002.

Darst-Webbe and the Future of HOPE VI in St. Louis, June 2001. A report for the federal district court in St. Louis as part of litigation in Darst-Webbe Tenant Association Board, et al., v. St. Louis Housing Authority, et al.

“Affordable Housing in the Chicago Region: Applying the Montgomery County Model and Beyond”, In progress. Funded by an $85,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation.

“Evaluation of the HCP/HACC Housing Mobility Counseling Program: Phase Two - Interviewing Staff and Clientele”, HCP of Illinois, December 2, 1999

“Evaluation of the HCP/HACC Housing Mobility Counseling Program”, HCP of Illinois, April 22, 1999.

“Section 8 and the Public Housing Revolution: Where Will the Families Go?”, Woods Fund of Chicago, March 16, 1999

Housing Affordability in the Chicago Metropolitan Area: A Study of the Potential Supply of Fair Market Rent Units in Low Poverty Areas@, HUD, August 2, 1995

Hope VI-Cabrini Green Baseline Study@, Abt Associates, October 1995

“Racial and Locational Patterns of Subsidized Housing in the Chicago Suburbs,” Georgetown Journal on Fighting Poverty, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1994. Funded by a $58,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation.

“The Future of Housing Mobility: A Review of the Rosenbaum Research,” Chicago Assembly, University of Chicago, November 1991

“Is Housing Mobility an Effective Anti-Poverty Strategy?: An Examination of the Cincinnati Experience.” Presented at the American Political Science Association national convention, September 1991. Funded by $25,000 grant from the Wilder Foundation and available as a Wilder Foundation publication.

“A Housing Desegregation Plan for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania,” Sanders v. HUD, Summer 1991

“Racial Household and Locational Characteristics of Subsidized Housing in Palm Beach County, Florida.” Funded by a $5,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation, Spring 1990

“Beyond Yonkers: Myth v. Reality,” Christian Science Monitor, October 28, 1988

“An Evaluational Inventory of Fair Housing Agencies in the Chicago Metropolitan Area.” Undertaken with a $10,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Fall 1986. Submitted as part of a reader in fair housing prepared by Professor Gary Orfield.

Popular Work

Grant from Highland Park Housing Commission to evaluate their project based on Section 8 program for low-income housing. 

Joined, in voluntary capacity, Housing Bronzeville, a community-based organization on Chicago’s South Side that is trying to bring more affordable housing to that area. 

Continue to work with the Metropolitan Planning Commission on public housing and affordable housing issues.

Chicago Matters series on housing on WTTW and WBEZ April 2002 Chicago Tonight WTTW The Future of Public Housing in Chicago 2000 Consultant and Expert Witness, Darst-Webbe Tenant Association Board, et al., v. St. Louis Housing Authority, et al., September 2000-present.

Chaired, Public Housing Group, Metropolitan Planning Council of Greater Chicago, 1998-2000

Coordinated consulting team developing procedures for families leaving high rise public housing developments in Chicago, 1999

Section 8 Working Group, organized on-going discussion of the role of the Section 8 program in the future of public housing in Chicago, 1997-1999

Consultant, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, an update of the HOPE VI Cabrini-Green Program in Chicago, 1997-1998.

HCP of Illinois, Consultant on Cook County housing mobility program, 1995-1999

Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities, Consultant on Landlord Outreach project, 1995-1996

Abt Associates, Consultant on Hope VI Baseline Study, Chicago Site, 1994-95

Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities, Facilitated day long planning retreat with Rebecca Sive, 1995

Emergency Fund for Needy People, Facilitated all day retreat dealing with long range planning, 1994