Skip to primary menu Skip to main content Skip to footer content

Press Room

Rendering of the exterior of the new museum building, a three-story brick building with orange balconies made from historic-looking brick with “National Public Housing Museum” written on the side. A school tour bus is parked in front of it and people are walking on the street towards the building.

Latest Press Releases and Announcements


Recent News Highlights

  • Screenshot of an article in South Side Weekly with the headline What It Looks Like to Fight Back: Inside Chicago’s National Public Housing Museum
    South Side Weekly

    What It Looks Like to Fight Back

    “In the last remaining building of the Jane Addams Homes, a small museum fights to preserve not just artifacts but dignity and justice.” NaBeela Washington reports from inside Chicago’s National Public Housing Museum.
  • Screenshot of Bloomberg CityLab article with headline At the National Public Housing Museum, an Embattled Idea Finds a Home
    Bloomberg

    At the National Public Housing Museum, an Embattled Idea Finds a Home

    “The items on display at the new National Public Housing Museum in Chicago are almost defiant in their ordinariness.” Zach Mortice writes about the new National Public Housing Museum and “activism steeped in the everyday.” 
  • Cover of Streetwise magazine with headline Grand Opening, the National Public Housing Museum is open to the public
    Streetwise

    Grand Opening

    Cover story in Streetwise magazine explores how the National Public Housing Museum “conveys these feelings of safety, community – and pride – in its dual roles as a house museum and as a place to discuss housing policy.”
  • MAS Context

    A House Museum for the Future

    “The museum’s opening is a triumph of a long game.” Elizabeth Blasius on the new National Public Housing Museum, “a worthwhile visit for anyone who understands the importance of home.”
  • Screenshot of a Washington Post article with the headline America knew it needed public housing but designed the system to fail
    Washington Post

    How a dream of providing decent housing went wrong

    “It is the small, everyday things that are most evocative: a rotary telephone, a Pyrex baking dish, an old hand mixer and furniture that looks well lived in.” The Washington Post’s Philip Kennicott reviews the new National Public Housing Museum, where everyday objects help fight “a heroic battle against misinformation, amnesia and bad history.”
  • Screenshot of an article in The Progressive with the headline Rewriting the Narrative on Public Housing
    The Progressive

    Rewriting the Narrative on Public Housing

    “The history of public housing has been sensationalized for decades—but The National Public Housing Museum tells a different story.”
  • Screenshot of Fox 32 Chicago webpage with headline National Public Housing Museum opens up world of history in Chicago
    Fox 32 Chicago

    National Public Housing Museum opens up world of history in Chicago

    “It’s a trip back in time that highlights the struggles and resilience of people who have lived in public housing.“
  • Screenshot of Smithsonian Magazine article with headline New Museum Examines the History of American Public Housing—and the Stories of its Residents
    Smithsonian Magazine

    New Museum Examines the History of American Public Housing—and the Stories of Its Residents

    “Narratives of institutional neglect and personal tragedy dominate the annals of American public housing. But sometimes, hope and real transformation can still shine through.”
  • Screenshot of UIC today article with the headline UIC lessons guide creation of the National Public Housing Museum
    UIC Today

    UIC lessons guide creation of first national public housing museum

    In an interview and preview of the National Public Housing Museum, Lisa Yun Lee shares “her vision for the museum and how UIC is part of its DNA.”
  • Screenshot of WTTW video with the headline How Chicago’s New Public Housing Museum Took Direction From the Community: ‘It Was Surreal When We Walked In’
    WTTW Chicago Tonight

    How Chicago’s New Public Housing Museum Took Direction From the Community

    “A museum to commemorate the history and community of public housing has just opened in Chicago. But the National Public Housing Museum isn’t just a museum, there’s also a workforce program, recording studio, and actual affordable housing units, all on site.”
  • Clipping of Block Club Chicago article with headline National Museum Of Public Housing Opens: ‘This Is A Destination’
    Block Club Chicago

    ‘This Is A Destination’

    “The visions of housing advocates and cultural leaders were realized Friday when former public housing neighbors, city and state officials joined dozens of supporters for the grand opening of the National Museum of Public Housing.”
  • Screenshot of a NBC 5 video with the headline National Public Housing Museum opens in Chicago
    NBC 5 Chicago

    National Public Housing Museum opens in Chicago

    “The National Public Housing Museum is now open on the near West Side in Little Italy, featuring stories of hope and personal achievement.” LeeAnn Trotter visits the new museum.
  • Screenshot of NPR page with headline A National Public Housing Museum opens
    NPR

    A National Public Housing Museum opens

    “There are exhibitions, a recording studio, art installations, even a small room where visitors can spin records made by people who lived in public housing.” From Chicago, Alison Cuddy reports.
  • Screenshot of dwell article with the headline Why We Need the Nation’s First Public Housing Museum
    dwell

    Why We Need the Nation’s First Public Housing Museum

    “Opening this week in Chicago, the National Public Housing Museum wants to reinvigorate our interest in collective well-being by tackling dominant narratives—of crime, poverty, and eventual destruction—head on.”
  • Screenshot of WBEZ story with the headline The National Public Housing Museum opens this week in Chicago. Here’s a sneak peek.
    WBEZ

    The National Public Housing Museum opens this week in Chicago. Here’s a sneak peek.

    “The museum tells a less familiar story about the history of public housing. ‘It was a decent, lovely place to live,’ a former resident says.”
  • Screenshot of AP article with the headline Unique Chicago museum showcases the history of public housing through its residents
    AP

    Unique Chicago museum showcases the history of public housing through its residents

    “Set inside a once-dilapidated 1938 building on Chicago’s near West Side, a one-of-a-kind museum hopes to change the perception of public housing in America.“
  • Screenshot clipping of an article in the Chicago Tribune with the headline National Public Housing Museum opens in Chicago
    Chicago Tribune

    National Public Housing Museum opens in Chicago, the first of its kind, with residents’ stories at its heart

    “On a gray Thursday on Chicago’s Near West Side, Rev. Marshall Hatch Sr. stepped through time.” In the Chicago Tribune, Hannah Edgar previews the National Public Housing Museum, “the only museum of its kind in the country.”
  • Screenshot of Art Newspaper article with the headline Changing the narrative: National Public Housing Museum opens in Chicago
    The Art Newspaper

    Changing the narrative

    “Housed in one of the historic Jane Addams Homes, the new museum aims to challenge perceptions about the sector.”
  • Newspaper clipping of the front page of the Sun-Times with the headline These Walls Can Talk
    Chicago Sun-times

    These Walls Can Talk

    “National Public Housing Museum is a living history awash in former residents’ stories and memorabilia.”
  • Screenshot of Block Club Chicago article with the title Long-Awaited National Public Housing Museum Opening Next Month in Little Italy
    Block Club Chicago

    Long-Awaited National Public Housing Museum Opening Next Month

    “The museum, in the works since the late ’90s, will open in the last remaining building from the Chicago Housing Authority’s Jane Addams Homes.”
  • Screenshot of a TRIIBE article with the headline Art Design Chicago amplifies Black and Indigenous histories with 2025 exhibitions
    The TRIIBE

    Art Design Chicago amplifies Black and Indigenous histories with 2025 exhibitions

    “We have the agency to tell our own stories. We are the future our ancestors hoped for and for which they endured the unimaginable.” Artist Monica Rickert-Bolter talks with the TRIIBE about “Still Here” and related Art Design Chicago projects
  • Front page of the Chicago Sun-Times with the headline Finally Back Home
    Chicago Sun-Times

    Finally Back Home

    “Restoring the sculptures and returning them to their historic spot in the former Addams homes Animal Court is a bit of a coup for the new museum, where they’ll likely be a popular attraction and provide fond memories for the now grown-up kids who played in and around the big stone animals.”

Announcement Archive

For press inquiries, please contact C.J. Lind, Director of Communications, at [email protected].


Sign up to stay connected with us!