The Robert Taylor housing development contains more than 20,000 persons, 96 percent of whom report public assistance as their sole form of income. Although the majority of households are classified as single parent and female headed, a significant proportion have other elders in residence. In 1994, gang activity in the housing development reached such intolerable proportions that the Chicago Housing Authority fought to suspend the constitutional rights of residents and institute novel law enforcement strategies. Tenant networks were formed, and each building in the community had a president and floor captains who were responsible for disseminating information, reporting maintenance problems, and searching for housing violations. Informal tenant networks were also established, for example, groups of mothers and grandmothers developed social groups to watch over children. Gang involvement in cocaine was perceived by many residents to be at the heart of the community's social problems. The author concludes that the economic dimension of gangs in impoverished communities such as the Robert Taylor housing development must be taken into account when developing social policies to respond to the detrimental effects of contemporary gang activity on communities. 8 notes