Officials and advocates broke ground on construction of the National Public Housing Museum (NPHM) on Tuesday at the former site of the Jane Addams Homes, part of the ABLA Homes on Chicago’s Near West Side. The event marked a major milestone in the development of the museum, for which advocates first began planning and fundraising some 15 years ago. Dedicated to the belief that all people have the right to a home, NPMH is the nation’s first cultural institution founded to preserve and interpret the role of public housing in advancing this essential yet unfulfilled aspiration. Using oral histories, art and material culture, the museum will archive and share stories of hope, achievement, struggle, resistance, resilience and entrepreneurship from a diverse group of former and current public housing residents. The last standing structure from the Jane Addams Homes, transferred to NPHM in 2018 by the Chicago Housing Authority, will undergo extensive rehabilitation to become the museum’s physical home. It will include the addition of 15 mixed income apartments in the back of the building in a unique partnership with the Chicago Housing Authority and Related Midwest. Once completed, NPHM will offer programs and exhibits that feature historically significant objects and art. The museum will also be an African American Historic Site. For more information on the National Public Housing Museum, please visit https://www.nphm.org/.