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Last September, Bobby Williams grabbed all the possessions he could, packed them into a grocery cart and trekked from a tent encampment near the Stewart School building to the Wilson Avenue viaduct.

Residents of the encampment were warned about the eviction on a Friday, but few of them had developed much of a plan by the time city workers erected a fence around the outskirts of the shuttered school building at 4525 N. Kenmore Ave. the following Monday morning.

“I left a lot of stuff back there…. I didn’t want to make two or three trips because I got bad legs,” Williams said. “[I left] a lot of personal things. I had to because they only gave us a certain amount of time to get out of there. And they were going to close it up.”

The ouster sent more than a dozen people living near the shuttered school scrambling for a temporary roof as winter approached. Now, those who made the move last year are finding themselves in a similar situation.

Williams has made the Wilson viaduct his home, but fears he and the other residents will soon be pushed out yet again. In June, the City of Chicago began soliciting bids, which are due July 6, for the rehabilitation of the Wilson Avenue and Lawrence Avenue viaducts.

On Wednesday, residents from the viaducts set up tents outside of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office at City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle St., and held a press conference asking Emanuel and DFSS to help them find actual housing before the viaduct overhaul begins.

“The question is: where we supposed to go?” asked Louis Jones, who is also living beneath the viaduct. “We appealed to them. We have been appealing to them to work with us on a solution, but were denied yet again. We have no problem with the viaducts being fixed, but where are we supposed to go? There is nowhere to go. We have no options.”

Included in the plans for the project are six-foot wide bike lanes, which reduce the width of the sidewalks, and security fences, according to the Sun-Times.

The city is planning to “capitalize on this opportunity,” said Jones.

“We believe all people should have better housing than the viaduct, but when we have no other options available we have no choice,” Jones said. “A space where you feel safe, where you have access [to] food [and] healthcare, that makes a big difference between life and death especially when you’re out there. We need the city to understand they are causing displacement of a lot of people like myself.”

Construction is expected to start in August or September. Once construction begins it should take 6 to 8 months to complete, said Chicago Department of Transportation spokeswoman Susan Hofer.

DFSS has been in communication with the viaduct residents about the project and once details are finalized, “the City will provide the community with a 30 day notice of the construction timeline,” the department said in a statement.

“The Homeless Outreach and Prevention team will also work with those affected to ensure they are safe and know all of their options for services. This will include working with partner agencies to provide resources for food, shelter and other needs,” the statement said.

Published June 6, 2017

By Mark Brown, columnist

Harassment sweeps couldn’t permanently chase homeless people out from under the Lake Shore Drive viaducts at Lawrence and Wilson avenues.

Efforts to find housing for them resulted in other homeless individuals moving in to take their place on the sidewalk.

Now the city is looking to a road construction project to accomplish what it otherwise has been unable to do: Oust the homeless from these two highly visible North Side locations.

Contracts to rehab decaying bridges over Lawrence and Wilson were advertised for bid Friday.

Work is tentatively scheduled to begin in late August or early September.

The homeless people have been told they must move before the work starts. The question, as always, is where will they go?

“We’re trying to get them to house the people instead of just tossing them out,” said Mark Saulys, who currently lives in a tent under the Wilson viaduct and has helped try to organize his fellow tent dwellers.

So far, the city hasn’t committed to giving priority to the viaduct residents over other homeless individuals who have requested housing.

The homeless people at Lawrence and Wilson argue they should be moved to the top of the city’s triage list for affordable housing because they are in effect being evicted.

Ald. James Cappleman (46th), who has had a strained relationship with homeless advocates over the years, said he agrees.

“We should provide housing to them first,” Cappleman said. “I believe they deserve top priority. This is an unusual situation.”

In addition to moving out the homeless, plans for the project call for the installation of six-foot bike lanes cutting into the wide sidewalks that have made it possible for the homeless to pitch tents beneath the viaducts and still allow pedestrians to pass. New security fences also are planned.

In other words, the new design appears to intentionally preclude the homeless encampments from returning.

City officials did not address that issue in a statement Monday promising to give the viaduct residents 30 days notice before they must move.

“The Homeless Outreach and Prevention (HOP) team will also work with those affected to ensure they are safe and know all of their options for services. This will include working with partner agencies to provide resources for food, shelter and other needs,” the statement said.

That sounds like the basic approach the city uses every time it clears out a homeless encampment, which often boils down to little more than offering them a ride to Pacific Garden Mission.

Homeless encampments under the Lake Shore Drive viaducts date back many years, although the tents are a more recent addition.

The encampments have sparked considerable debate in Uptown between nearby residents who complain the encampments make it unsafe to reach the lakefront, and others who argue they aren’t hurting anyone and should be left alone. I’m in the latter camp.

As I’ve explained in the past, the location is attractive to homeless people because it is relatively safe, nearby other homeless services in the Uptown neighborhood and a magnet for Good Samaritans dropping off food and clothing.

A spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation said all lanes of Lake Shore Drive will remain open during what is planned to be a five-month project. Lanes on Lawrence and Wilson will be reduced beneath the viaducts during the project.

The American Road & Transportation Builders Association placed the two viaducts on its top 10 list of most traveled structurally deficient bridges in Illinois.

Note: The ranking is by most traveled, not most dangerous.

But the homeless people don’t question the need for the construction work, said Louis Jones, 50, who has been living beneath the Wilson viaduct for more than a year.

The crumbling concrete is self-evident beneath the structures, which were built in 1933.

Still, the homeless don’t believe the project should serve as a convenient pretext to get rid of them.

“A lot of people don’t have nowhere to go,” Jones said.

And moving them around doesn’t change that.

Published June 1, 2017

Crowds of Illinois residents just traveled to Springfield asking our state government to do its job. It’s shameful that elected officials have left the state of Illinois without an operating budget for two years. It isn’t just a crisis—it’s a catastrophe. Businesses are laying off workers and closing because their contracts with the state have not been fulfilled. Ambitious students are dropping out of college because the tuition assistance they earned is being withheld.

“The private sector” can’t save us. All the foundations together do not have enough money to keep this ship afloat. Foundations provide over $3 billion in grants each year. While that is a lot of funding, it’s only one-tenth of an annual state budget—when we had one.

Solutions abound, if one has the guts to put what’s right for the entire state ahead of what’s politically expedient. Lawmakers, please listen to the residents who marched across the state to ask you to do your job. If you can hear them above the sound of ideologies clashing.

LESLIE RAMYK
Executive director
Conant Family Foundation

DOUG SCHENKELBERG
Executive director
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

Bill helps homeless teens seeking shelter

Being underage can be a major obstacle when homeless teens seek an escape.

By Raquel Martin

According to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH), every year around 25,000 young people find themselves homeless in the state. Without a safe place to go, many lawmakers believe their lives are put in danger.

It’s why they proposed a new bill allowing minors, from 16 – 18, to take advantage of transitional shelters without their parents’ permission.

Right now, minors must first be emancipated in order to use a shelter. Without a place to go, many are sleeping in places such as cars or other public spaces.

According to the CCH, about a third of homeless young people say they’ve left home because of physical abuse. Lawmakers who support the bill say they these shelters are safe alternative.

“You want a teenager, if they’re seeking help, to be able to access those services and programs that a shelter provides. I mean, you don’t want to jeopardize anybody’s safety by putting them back on the streets if they don’t have the proper permission. You want them to be safe,” says Steve Staldeman (D- Rockford).

The bill is facing some opposition. It passed the House 71 – 40 and now is awaiting a vote in the Senate. Some lawmakers are concerned the bill would encourage more minors to leave home.

There are dozens of transitional shelters for teens around the state. Each offers counseling services so children can ultimately reunite with their parents.

Those who support the bill say these shelters are not meant to be permanent solutions but a way to keep those vulnerable protected.

CCH editor’s note: Former Gov. Quinn’s new portrait includes a photograph of the governor signing a bill to ask voters if the state’s minimum wage should be increased. It shows Mr. Quinn handing the pen to long-time CCH leader Gloria Davis, an activist on the 2014 wage campaign. Ms. Davis was invited to Springfield to participate in a celebration of the potrait’s unveiling. 

By Tina Sfondeles

Former Gov. Pat Quinn on Monday unveiled his official portrait at the Illinois State Capitol — a painting featuring 44 items that he deemed important to his life, including photographs of his family, a link to a Bible verse and a photograph of him signing a bill that placed a referendum about minimum wage on the ballot.

It’s the first governor’s portrait to feature “people of color” in the Hall of Governors.

The portrait painted by Illinois artist William T. Chambers features Quinn standing in front of a desk, surrounded by pictures of his parents and family members, while holding a Bible. An image of Abraham Lincoln is framed behind him. Other items include a baseball with a plaque that reads 2005 — an homage to the Chicago White Sox World Series win.

During the ceremony, Quinn joked that the artist offered to put “found items” in the portrait, and Quinn chose to include 44 of them.

He spoke of expanding healthcare coverage, signing the marriage equality law and abolishing the death penalty — all depicted in the portrait as well.

“We have to protect that expansion right now,” Quinn said during the unveiling, alluding to President Donald Trump’s overhaul of Obamacare.

Quinn said he came into office during a “difficult time” — with a recession and an imprisoned governor. Quinn was sworn in as governor in 2009 after former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was impeached. Quinn lost a re-election bid to Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2014.

To applause — and in a nod to the state’s historic budget impasse — Quinn noted he signed six budgets during his tenure. He spoke about signing important revenue measures. He said he was willing to raise taxes — “it wasn’t easy but it was important.”

The portrait also includes a photograph of Quinn signing a bill that put an advisory referendum on the November 2014 ballot asking voters whether the state’s minimum wage should be increased. He is surrounded by supporters in the image, which marks the first time “people of color” have ever been featured in a governor’s portrait.

The painting features 44 interactive “found items” representing people and issues from his career in public service. Quinn also announced the creation of the GovernorQuinnPortrait.org website where visitors can follow links to items featured in the portrait.

Quinn opted not to use state funds for the portrait and instead raised money for the framed painting and website.

By Matthew Messner

While many cities struggle with their relationship with house-sharing micro-rental companies, Chicago is looking on the bright side of the relatively new phenomenon. The city has announced that it will use $1 million raised from fees paid by homeowners who use home-sharing platforms, such as Airbnb, to help house 100 homeless families. The Housing Homeless Families program is a joint initiative with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, one of the city’s primary resources for information on and advocacy for the homeless population.

The program will focus on families in areas of the city with high violent crime rates, including Austin, Englewood, West Englewood, and Humboldt Park. Working with shelters that specialize in family services and the Chicago Public School system, the program will focus specifically on families with school-age children.

“The goal of this initiative is to help our most vulnerable families to establish stability so that their children can succeed,” said Department of Family and Support Services Commissioner Lisa Morrison Butler. “Thanks to collaboration with our partners at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, the city will deliver a coordinated response to ensure the needs of our most vulnerable families are met, and to prevent families on the cusp from experiencing homelessness.”

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless recently released a report on the number of homeless people in the city. The count includes data on those who “double-up,” referring to people that do not have their own home but stay with friends or relatives. The report, which looks at 2015, found the city to have 82,000 homeless individuals, which includes nearly 10,000 homeless families. It is estimated that 87 percent of those who identified as homeless were “doubled-up.”

The money for the new program was raised through a $1 million investment by the Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund, with matching funds from a four percent surcharge leveled against homeowners using Airbnb and other home-sharing programs. That money will go towards providing housing vouchers to families and provide additional transition services. Those services will include helping families set up appointments, navigate the housing application process, and work with housing providers. The ultimate goal is to find permanent housing for the participating families.

“Around the city, children should be able to focus on their studies, and not where they are going to sleep at night,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel at the announcement of the initiative. “Working with our partners at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless on this new initiative, we will work to ensure that more families experiencing or on the verge of homelessness can find and maintain the housing and stability they need to thrive and provide for their children.”

By Vince Gerasole

(CBS) — For the first time, the city of Chicago has some money to helpfamilies who don’t fit the traditional definition of the word “homeless.”

Most people who are without a home are not living on Lower Wacker Drive or beneath an expressway underpass, according to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

Their new definition of homeless includes families who are “doubled-up,” their term for families living temporarily with relatives or friends and not in a shelter.

They say more than 80 percent of homeless people are doubled-up.

Dominique Moore and her two children spent four months living with cousins before they went to a shelter. She says the shelter was actually better.

“Your family — you get in expecting them to be more open and welcoming, knowing that you’re in a bad situation. But you only get bad results,” Moore, 27, says.

Areasha Jackson is another example. She raises two daughters in a single room in a friend’s basement, while working as a home care aide for $250 a week.

“I get up and go to work every day and try and do my best and just pray — that’s it,”  Jackson tells CBS 2’s Vince Gerasole. LINK TO THE TV video here.

Federal money has not been available to help doubled-up families. But now the city says a portion of $1.8 million from a city surcharge on Airbnb rentals will help some of those families.

A new count estimates there are 82,000 homeless people in Chicago, most of them in the doubled-up situation.

By Maya Miller

This fall, 100 homeless families with school-age children will gain permanent housing and support services, thanks to a partnership between the city and the nonprofit Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the program Thursday morning, just one day after the coalition released its most recent figures on Chicago’s homeless population: 82,212 in 2015.

For the first time, the organization’s count includes the so-called “doubled-up” population – people who stay with friends and relatives in hard times. Though many self-identify as homeless, the U.S. Department for Housing and Urban Development does not recognize them as such, according to Julie Dworkin, the director of policy at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

Continue reading WTTW: Chicago to house 100 homeless families, address ‘doubled-up’ population