Recent News Posts
Chicago Sun-Times, Mark Brown: Last SRO residents kicked out after new owners recklessly made hotel unsafe
By Mark Brown, columnist The Chicago Fire Department ordered the Abbott Hotel, 721 W. Belmont, to be vacated by 3 p.m. Friday after inspectors documented for themselves the glaring safety hazards I reported in Thursday’s column. The decision to kick out the Abbott’s last remaining tenants was the only sensible solution given the reckless conduct…
» Read More
Chicago Sun-Times, Mark Brown: New owners shut off heat, water, fire sprinklers for SRO tenants
By Mark Brown, columnist There are laws in this state about the proper way to rid a building of unwanted tenants, but they don’t seem to apply to the new owners of the Abbott Hotel, 721 W. Belmont. In an amazing display of arrogance, the building’s owners are performing a gut rehab of the four-story…
» Read More
Chicago Sun-Times: What’s really going on in the 46th Ward?
CCH’s Letter to the Editor Chicago Ald. James Cappleman writes (“Actively helping homeless,” April 2) that he disagrees with the “approach that the best way to help the homeless is to simply leave them alone.” Pointing out that he worked as a social worker, the Uptown alderman writes that he “will never give up on…
» Read More
Progress Illinois: Advocacy groups call for restoration of state homeless student education funds
By Ellyn Fortino Given the potential record-breaking number of schools closing in Chicago and a recent report showing an increased number of homeless students in Illinois, anti-homeless advocates say it’s more important than ever for the state to restore funding for the education of students with unstable homes. Given the potential record-breaking number of…
» Read More
Chicago Tribune: At Uptown cubicle hotel, a fight to stay open
Men living in 7-by-7 units make their battle public in hopes of saving affordable housing By Lolly Bowean There is nothing luxurious about the Wilson Men’s Hotel in Uptown. The 7-by-7 rooms are tiny and crowded, with only enough space for a twin bed, a dresser and maybe a shelving unit. The building is historic but worn,…
» Read More
WBBM Newsradio: Karen Lewis blasts CPS officials at Rainbow-PUSH meeting
By Mike Krauser “If you are closing schools with names like Attucks, Bontemps, Mahalia Jackson, Jesse Owens, Marcus Garvey, there is a disconnection,” Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said Saturday (audio available here). “We have people who are so arrogant, that they would put the lives of 30,000 children, almost 3,000 homeless children in…
» Read More
Chicago Sun-Times, Mark Brown: Before death and rousting from viaduct, homeless man had simple request, ‘Why don’t you leave us alone?’
Jack King, a homeless man who lived under the Wilson Avenue viaduct died March 13, 2013. | Photo by Odette Youself~WBEZ By Mark Brown, Columnist Jack King, a homeless man who lived under a Lake Shore Drive viaduct until his death March 13, reached out to me last week as if a voice from the…
» Read More
DNAinfo.com: Uptown’s Chateau Hotel residents served evictions – ‘We’re all looking for places’
By Serena Dai LAKEVIEW — Tenants at the troubled Chateau Hotel have been served with eviction notices, according to residents, and several are contesting the eviction to buy time to find alternative affordable housing. Most of the people still living in the single-resident occupancy hotel — an unclear number that’s estimated to be between 35…
» Read More
Chicago Sun-Times Op-Ed: Eliminate felony prostitution in Illinois
By Lynne Johnson, Policy and Advocacy Director Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation It’s time to call it off. The 13-year-old experiment of charging prostitution as a felony in Illinois has failed. People in prostitution are being cycled through the criminal justice system without access to the help they really need, and the people…
» Read More
WBEZ 91.5FM: Uptown man raised alarm on viaduct evictions before death
Jack King spoke briefly to WBEZ about treatment of homeless in his neighborhood (WBEZ/Odette Yousef) Jack King slept under the viaduct at Wilson Avenue in Uptown. Before he died, he told WBEZ that city officials targeted him and other homeless there with arbitrary evictions. By Odette Yousef Just a few weeks ago, Chicago’s Uptown…
» Read More
Chicago Sun-Times, Mark Brown: Last SRO residents kicked out after new owners recklessly made hotel unsafe
By Mark Brown, columnist The Chicago Fire Department ordered the Abbott Hotel, 721 W. Belmont, to be vacated by 3 p.m. Friday after inspectors documented for themselves the glaring safety hazards I reported in Thursday’s column. The decision to kick out the Abbott’s last remaining tenants was the only sensible solution given the reckless conduct…
» Read More
Chicago Sun-Times, Mark Brown: New owners shut off heat, water, fire sprinklers for SRO tenants
By Mark Brown, columnist There are laws in this state about the proper way to rid a building of unwanted tenants, but they don’t seem to apply to the new owners of the Abbott Hotel, 721 W. Belmont. In an amazing display of arrogance, the building’s owners are performing a gut rehab of the four-story…
» Read More
Chicago Sun-Times: What’s really going on in the 46th Ward?
CCH’s Letter to the Editor Chicago Ald. James Cappleman writes (“Actively helping homeless,” April 2) that he disagrees with the “approach that the best way to help the homeless is to simply leave them alone.” Pointing out that he worked as a social worker, the Uptown alderman writes that he “will never give up on…
» Read More
Progress Illinois: Advocacy groups call for restoration of state homeless student education funds
By Ellyn Fortino Given the potential record-breaking number of schools closing in Chicago and a recent report showing an increased number of homeless students in Illinois, anti-homeless advocates say it’s more important than ever for the state to restore funding for the education of students with unstable homes. Given the potential record-breaking number of…
» Read More
Chicago Tribune: At Uptown cubicle hotel, a fight to stay open
Men living in 7-by-7 units make their battle public in hopes of saving affordable housing By Lolly Bowean There is nothing luxurious about the Wilson Men’s Hotel in Uptown. The 7-by-7 rooms are tiny and crowded, with only enough space for a twin bed, a dresser and maybe a shelving unit. The building is historic but worn,…
» Read More
WBBM Newsradio: Karen Lewis blasts CPS officials at Rainbow-PUSH meeting
By Mike Krauser “If you are closing schools with names like Attucks, Bontemps, Mahalia Jackson, Jesse Owens, Marcus Garvey, there is a disconnection,” Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said Saturday (audio available here). “We have people who are so arrogant, that they would put the lives of 30,000 children, almost 3,000 homeless children in…
» Read More
Chicago Sun-Times, Mark Brown: Before death and rousting from viaduct, homeless man had simple request, ‘Why don’t you leave us alone?’
Jack King, a homeless man who lived under the Wilson Avenue viaduct died March 13, 2013. | Photo by Odette Youself~WBEZ By Mark Brown, Columnist Jack King, a homeless man who lived under a Lake Shore Drive viaduct until his death March 13, reached out to me last week as if a voice from the…
» Read More
DNAinfo.com: Uptown’s Chateau Hotel residents served evictions – ‘We’re all looking for places’
By Serena Dai LAKEVIEW — Tenants at the troubled Chateau Hotel have been served with eviction notices, according to residents, and several are contesting the eviction to buy time to find alternative affordable housing. Most of the people still living in the single-resident occupancy hotel — an unclear number that’s estimated to be between 35…
» Read More
Chicago Sun-Times Op-Ed: Eliminate felony prostitution in Illinois
By Lynne Johnson, Policy and Advocacy Director Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation It’s time to call it off. The 13-year-old experiment of charging prostitution as a felony in Illinois has failed. People in prostitution are being cycled through the criminal justice system without access to the help they really need, and the people…
» Read More
WBEZ 91.5FM: Uptown man raised alarm on viaduct evictions before death
Jack King spoke briefly to WBEZ about treatment of homeless in his neighborhood (WBEZ/Odette Yousef) Jack King slept under the viaduct at Wilson Avenue in Uptown. Before he died, he told WBEZ that city officials targeted him and other homeless there with arbitrary evictions. By Odette Yousef Just a few weeks ago, Chicago’s Uptown…
» Read More
