Since that time, scattered-site housing has become a major part of public housing in Chicago.

"This is scattered-site housing on paper," Bernadette McLaughlin, a community leader from the southeast section, told the council at the meeting.

According to Mr. Legault, this may be the first time tax-exempt bonds have been used to purchase small, scattered-site housing.

The suit charges that officials "have repeatedly delayed or abandoned construction or acquisition of scattered-site public housing because of white neighborhood opposition."

Level the projects; disperse the poor into scattered-site housing, among neighbors who work and study and keep up their houses.

The scattered-site housing is considered successful, even by some who opposed it.

But the city rejected scattered-site housing after an outcry like that heard today.

"We tried to get the city to build scattered-site housing on the east side," Mr. Evans said, recalling those meetings.

To replace them, the city is building much smaller town houses and dispersing them in scattered-site housing, including about 250 units planned for this neighborhood.

Other examples of federal legislation may include increased federal legislation enforcement, scattered-site housing, or state and local enforcement on a more concentrated level.