By Amanda Vinicky
A federal judge has permanently banned Illinois’ panhandling law from being enforced on the basis the statute violates the First Amendment. The case was part of a yearlong effort by advocates including the American Civil Liberties Union and Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) to eliminate such laws.
Continue reading WTTW: Federal Court Rules Illinois’ Panhandling Law Unconstitutional
By Adam M. Rhodes
After what some say was an unprecedented pattern of violence against people experiencing homelessness in Chicago last year, activists are calling on the city to better investigate these crimes and to do more for the victims.
Continue reading Chicago Reader: Escalating violence and lack of police response put the city’s homeless even more at riskBy Sarah Gelbard Jan. 14, 2021
Underneath the city streets on Lower Wacker, many people have set up encampments along a stretch of concrete and iron rust. It can smell like gasoline, cat urine, pigeon droppings, rat decay, mold, and rotted fruit, depending on where you’re standing. At night the light is harsh and artificial, and the hum of cars, buses, and trucks never stops. Those who live here call it the Underworld. Some struggle with PTSD and substance use disorder. It’s late December 2020, and they are all trying to survive.
Continue reading Reader: Homeless in a pandemic-stricken Chicago
Escalating homelessness in Chicago forced city officials to act boldly to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. Hotel 166, located in one of the city’s ‘fanciest shopping districts’, was then morphed into a homeless shelter.
Director – Nic Davis
Producer – Leah De Leon
Commissioning editor – Anna Pazos
Editor – Matthew Meredith
Director of photography – Sam Paakkonen
Field Producer – Lily Qi
By Mena Ahmad
Even before the pandemic, Chicago’s homeless population was on the rise. Back in January, Chicago saw its number of people experiencing homelessness increase for the first time since 2015. Now a pandemic, a battered economy and oncoming winter could mean a new wave of homelessness in the city. Reset takes a closer look at the issue.
GUESTS: Mary Tarullo, associate director for policy and strategy at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
Luwana Johnson, director of shelter operations at Franciscan Outreach
Continue reading WBEZ: COVID-19, Economy And Oncoming Winter Are A Perfect Storm Of Crises For Chicago’s HomelessMost nights, people fight and scream outside the small room where Elizabeth Maldonado and her four children sleep—or try to, at least—at a homeless shelter in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. Maldonado’s 15-year-old daughter, in particular, fears that if she closes her eyes, someone will burst through the door.
It’s no wonder, then, that her kids—ages 17, 15, 12, and 9—often don’t log on to their virtual classes come morning, Maldonado said. They’re exhausted.
CONTINUE READING
By Ariel Parrella-Aureli
AVONDALE — Multiple people were injured and had their belongings destroyed during a Monday fire at an encampment for people experiencing homelessness in Avondale.
Continue reading Block Club Chicago: Fire Destroys Avondale Homeless Encampment — And Residents Think It Was A Hate CrimeBy Nereida Moreno
Remote learning begins Tuesday for nearly 400,000 students at Chicago Public Schools. But the fall semester may prove to be an extra challenge for the district’s homeless population — an estimated 16,500 students who rely on schools for Internet access and other resources.
Continue reading WBEZ: Remote Learning Creates Extra Barriers For Homeless CPS StudentsBY JOCELYN VEGA
The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) is on a mission to ensure that people experiencing homelessness are counted in the 2020 Census by increasing awareness that housing status does not bar census participation. Gloria Davis, CCH’s Census 2020 project manager, is leading outreach efforts with unhoused populations, despite COVID-19.
Her work at CCH is “trying to find a way to have [the census] be a fair and accurate count—because it really hasn’t been for us,” said Davis.
Continue reading South Side Weekly: Census Spotlight: Chicago Coalition for the HomelessHotel used to “shield” medically at-risk homeless people from virus is operating at capacity.
By Mark Brown, columnist
Robert Ewaniuk has been staying at a West Side homeless shelter operated by Franciscan Outreach for a little more than a week, during which he’s been tested twice for COVID-19 after other residents contracted the disease.
At age 54 and with several underlying health conditions including diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, Ewaniuk is considered high risk for coronavirus complications if he were to become infected.
Normally, those health problems would make Ewaniuk a candidate for a room at Hotel 166, a boutique tourist hotel off Michigan Avenue where the city has been housing some homeless people with medical needs to shield them from the virus. Continue reading Chicago Sun-Times, Mark Brown: COVID-19 outbreak at homeless shelters raises concerns for some still staying there
