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Gov. Bruce Rauner’s immediate reductions to child care for working parents, home-based services for the elderly and disabled and home energy assistance show stunning disregard for working families and the less fortunate.

The governor’s recommended funding cuts in his proposed FY16 budget further demonstrate this lack of concern. Particularly callous is his proposal to terminate all services for wards of the state when they reach age 19, greatly increasing the risk that former wards will become homeless. Meanwhile, the governor’s budget also proposes cutting back services to homeless youth by more than 50 percent.

This double blow would eliminate the basic safety net for older youth who fled homes of abuse, dysfunction and rejection. Without essential services and protection, these young people face abuse and exploitation in their struggle to survive.

The governor’s disregard for those who are young and vulnerable is alarming. It breeds a lack of confidence in a political leader who has claimed compassion would be a priority of his administration.

Fiscal policy experts agree that we need to raise adequate revenue to support state priorities, make smart investments and avoid making further cuts to critical human services. The spending plan advanced by the General Assembly also includes funding reductions, yet rejects drastic cuts to vital services, pointing to new revenue as the solution.

A state that does not protect the less fortunate and give working families an opportunity to get ahead is a place without hope. Chicago Coalition for the Homeless is in the business of hope — hope for a better future for youth, families and communities. We invite the governor to join us in this vision for Illinois.

— Ed Shurna, executive director, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

by Claudia Morell – claudia@aldertrack.com

The City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate spent two hours Monday morning discussing progress of the city’s Five Year Housing Plan, a blueprint the Department of Planning and Development developed in 2014 to create more affordable housing by 2018.

Committee Members Present: Chairman Joe Moore (49), Ald. Pat Dowell (3), Ald. Will Burns (4), Ald. Raymond Lopez (15), Ald. David Moore (17), Ald. Michael Scott Jr. (24), Ald. James Cappleman (46).

DPD is the lead agency for the City’s affordable housing, housing preservation, and homebuyer assistance programs, and Lawrence Grisham, the Deputy Commissioner of the Department’s Bureau of Housing, provided the committee with a progress report for the 1st Quarter of 2015. The City spent 29%, or $75M, of its projected 2015 allocation to support approximately 3,900 units of affordable housing, according to Grisham’s testimony.

He also said that the new Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO) the City Council passed in March is expected to help generate 1,200 new units of affordable housing and $95M in funding for affordable housing over the next five years. Grisham called the updated ordinance “very helpful” and expects the additional revenue to help fill a funding gap left by $75M in federal funding cuts. The ordinance takes effect October 12, 2015, but changes in the fee structure will be phased in over 12 months. It will apply to any project receiving a zoning change, city financial assistance, located in downtown planned development, or contains more than nine residential units.

(Link to Grisham’s PowerPoint presentation)

But several aldermen on the committee, including its new Chairman, Ald. Joe Moore (49), who replaced ousted 31st Ward Ald. Ray Suarez, questioned whether the plan was on track to reach its 2018 goals. Representatives from community groups that work in some of the city’s most blighted neighborhoods also raised concerns about the fairness, cost and efficiency of DPD’s housing programs.

The progress report also comes at a time when DPD’s sister agency, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) is in the midst of another leadership change. CHA is the landlord for most of the city’s public housing stock and manager of some Section 8 programs. Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Friday that he was appointing Eugene “Gene” Jones as the acting CEO, after Michael Merchant stepped down from the position. Jones will be the authority’s 8th CEO since the public housing agency started its billion dollar Plan For Transformation, which Mayor Richard M. Daley touted as the largest, most ambitious public housing redevelopment plan in the country. The plan is behind schedule, and CHA has been accused of sitting on undeveloped land and not spending the money allocated for the plan.

Ald. Moore pressed Grisham to explain how Jones appointment would address this problem, but Grisham said he was not the “best person to answer that question”, adding that he could only speak to Jones’ qualifications on a “personal level”. When Grisham deferred any further discussion on the topic to CHA, Ald. Moore said that he plans to hold a public forum so Jones and other CHA officials can go on record about the status of the plan and respond to public concerns.

Ald. Will Burns (4) said he was under the impression that one of the biggest challenges of mixed income developments is the layered financing needed to build market rate and affordable housing housing units. It was a point also raised by Ald. James Cappleman (46). Grisham agreed that the CHA’s Plan for Transformation was a big endeavor that relied heavily on state and federal funds and tax credits. He said in light of the City’s limited resources, DPD wants more federal investment to address the lack of private funds for the project.

“These are complicated projects. These are complicated issues,” Grisham said, noting how using public funds for development projects can increase construction costs 20% in some cases.

Ald. Pat Dowell (3) also asked about the status of federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding and the impact potential cuts to the federally-funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) could have on families. Grisham said the city continues to see a decrease in the CDBG allocation from the federal government. He expects additional cuts in the upcoming budget year. Those funds generally go to the Department of Family and Supportive Services and helps fund the city’s homeless programs. Grisham also anticipates additional cuts to the LIHEAP program, which helps low income families pay their utility bills. “It will have a terrible impact of families,” Grisham said, calling it a “lifeline” for families who can’t afford to pay their utility bills without it.

Two the the City Council’s newest members, Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) and Ald. Michael Scott, Jr. (24), who represent wards with a large number of vacant lots and abandoned buildings, asked Grisham about the programs DPD uses to address these troubled properties. Grisham said the Troubled Buildings Initiative (TBI) deals with most of the dilapidated and vacant properties by working with local aldermen or housing courts to identify problem properties. He admitted that since the initiative is predominantly done through the courts, “it is not quick, but we go through as many properties given the resources that we have.”

DPD’s Troubled Building Initiative received the most criticism during the public comments portion of the meeting. It’s a joint effort by the Community Investment Corporation (CIC), Department of Buildings, Law Department and other City agencies. CIC is in charge of assessing rehab costs, providing loans to new homeowners and recording all invoices for Multi-Family units. The Neighborhood Housing Services Redevelopment Corporation (NHSRC) oversees the single-family initiative.

Mark Carter, with the advocacy group ONE Chicago, accused DPD of using the Troubled Building Initiative as a gentrification tool that targets poor and distressed communities. “If we don’t control the Troubled Building Initiative, we are going to be wiped out of the city,” Carter said, alleging that delegate agencies, like CIC, use housing courts as a way to seize properties and exacerbate rehabilitation costs. He was concerned that like Detroit and Indiana, it was only a matter of time before someone was “raped or killed” in one of the city’s vacant buildings because it can take up to two years before a TBI property is refurbished and sold.

Ald. Lopez said that he was aware of Carter’s concerns and gave the example of West Englewood, where 20% of the properties are abandoned.

Melvin Bailey, with the Community Male Empowerment Project agreed with Carter, saying that he would like to see fast track demolitions and have community organizations, not delegate agencies, approved as TBI recipients.

Eithne McMenamin, a policy director with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, was concerned about the slow rollout of the TIF Purchase Rehab Program, which the organization as part of the Sweet Home Chicago Coalition, helped create in 2011. According to McMenamin’s testimony, the program has committed $4M and four TIFs to rehab vacant and abandoned buildings. McMenamin said while she has had a “productive” working relationship with DPD–her organization has met with DPD once a month since the rollout of the program–she is concerned with the slow rollout and expansion of the TIF program and the overall Five Year Housing Program. “If we continue at the current rate, meeting the $35M goal to create more than 500 units of affordable housing […] will be impossible,” McMenamin said. “We call for a real and sustainable commitment to this piece of the Five Year Housing Plan.” Ald. Moore asked her what she thinks would help expedite the process. McMenamin said a “more laser like focus” from the 5th Floor and the City Council.

David Peterson, Jr., the Executive Director of the National Pullman Museum and Pullman National Monument, asked if it was possible to use TIF dollars for “cultural economic development” under the umbrella of tourism. Ald. Moore deferred his question to Grisham and said they could discuss the issue after the meeting.

And of course, no committee meeting would be complete without testimony from George Blakemore. After giving an impassioned speech about what he described as a land grab in the city’s predominantly African American communities, Ald. David Moore (17) said Blakemore’s comments had merit and demanded more transparency from DPD.

By Tina Sfondeles and Becky Schlikerman

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago is closing two family shelters and two child development centers in Chicago July 1 because of “uncertainty around government funding,” a spokeswoman for the not-for-profit social service agency said Saturday.

Kristine Kappel said Catholic Charities will close these centers: St. Francis De Paula Interim Housing at 7811 S. Ellis in Chatham, Our Lady of Solace at 6212 S. Sangamon in Englewood, Grace Mission Child Development Center at 5332 S. Western Ave. in Gage Park and St. Aloysius Child Development Center at 1510 N. Claremont in Wicker Park.

“These decisions are never easy,” Kappel said. “After an exhaustive and comprehensive review of all of our 155 programs and locations, we determined it was not fiscally responsible to continue operating these locations. Like many non-profits, we are stretched beyond a point of fiscal capability.”

She said the agency will work with city officials and other community groups to “ensure these individuals, families and children have safe, caring places to live and learn.”

“We have been working closely with them to ensure that the families and individuals that will be impacted by the closures will have shelter or housing to go to before the doors close at the end of June,” said Matt Smith, a spokesman for the city Department of Family & Support Services, which provides funding for the Our Lady of Solace and St. Francis De Paula sites.

“We have already secured 60 beds — more than half the amount needed — and are working with Catholic Charities to secure the necessary information so that the remaining residents will have a place to stay,” Smith said. “We hope to be able to start relocating residents as early as the end of this coming week, and we are confident that everybody will be in place before the closures take place.”

Catholic Charities is one of the largest private, non-profit social service agencies in the Midwest, with than 160 locations in Cook County and Lake County serving more than 1 million people a year, according to the organization.

The two family centers that are being closed house one- or two-parent families with children up to 18 years old for a maximum stay of 120 days. Beside providing food and shelter, those centers have caseworkers to help residents apply for housing and search for jobs.

Grace Mission serves children 3 to 5 years old. St. Aloysius serves kids 2 to 5.

Employees were told Monday the centers will be closed because of a lack of funding from the city and the state. They were advised to look for other jobs, according to an employee who spoke on the condition of not being identified by name.

According to Catholic Charities’ 2014 annual report, the organization housed 1,726 people, including 1,139 children in its shelters and transitional apartments last year and helped care for 1,500 children at its nine child development centers.

The legal team at United stays busy tending to the many intricacies of a large airline, but that doesn’t stop them from having their own community service program. Volunteer lawyers and staff take on pro bono legal work for causes ranging from domestic violence to tax assistance for the less fortunate. Additionally, the entire legal team participates in a community service day each year.

Judging from their team culture, it’s no surprise that a group of 26 United employees from this department co-authored The Homeless Youth Handbook—Illinois, in partnership with Baker & McKenzie and the Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. The handbook’s 17 chapters cover topics including education, health care, housing and consumer credit issues, presenting them in a youth-friendly format.

“Homeless youth face a unique struggle,” says Barbara Thomas, a paralegal at United. “It’s important they understand their legal rights and have available resources to help them succeed. I’m proud to be a part of a team and a company that sees the value in important projects like The Homeless Youth Handbook.”

The innovative guide is available online through a specially-designed, mobile-friendly website, homelessyouth.org, and it is also being distributed in hard copy throughout Illinois to schools, libraries, public agencies, social advocates and others.

For the past year, CCH has assisted Cook County officials in planning this new misdemeanor diversion court.

By Lauren Zumbach

Cook County officials announced Friday that a new court will try to transform how prostitution charges are handled so that women caught up in sex trafficking are treated more like victims and get the help they need.

The effort comes after the state Legislature approved a new law in 2013 requiring that every prostitution case charged in Illinois be a misdemeanor, not a felony.

The Chicago Prostitution and Trafficking Intervention Court aims to give those arrested for prostitution the assistance they need to escape that life, while also reducing jail crowding and substance abuse and addiction among women in sex work, officials said.

The new court was initiated by State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s office in conjunction with Chief Judge Timothy Evans and the public defender’s office.

At a news conference at her downtown offices, Alvarez said the program was modeled after a program in Manhattan.

“We know that many women involved in prostitution are victims of human traffickers or they face issues such as chronic homelessness, mental health issues or addiction and they engage in prostitution for basic necessities such as food and shelter,” Alvarez said in a statement. “We strongly believe that this unique and coordinated initiative will bring positive results for the participants and their families, public safety and the criminal justice system as a whole.”

“It is a step in the right direction because it shifts the conversation and recognizes that these people, mostly women, are victims, not criminals,” Public Defender Amy Campanelli said. “It will remove them from the cycle of drugs, abuse and exploitation, and treat them as human beings, not case numbers to be processed as offenders.”

The court program will be located at the Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse at 555 W. Harrison St.

Most defendants will be able to have their charges dismissed if they successfully complete the program, which will vary based on the person’s criminal background and needs, officials said.

Defendants will be offered individual assessment and case management, HIV testing and referral to treatment and group and individual counseling, with services primarily provided by Christian Community Health Center’s “Footprints” program, officials said. Other agencies involved include Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, the Salvation Army’s STOP-IT program, which works with victims of human trafficking, and Thresholds, a mental health services agency.
Those who refuse the program or fail to finish will have the option of pleading guilty and enrolling in an intensive treatment course as an alternative to incarceration, officials said.

Eithne McMenamin, associate director of policy for the homeless coalition, said the court will open on Monday and expects to see its first defendants after about a week.

Most sex workers are victims of abuse who have “a long history of trauma” and are in the sex trade as a way to survive, she said.

By Angelika Labno

Chicago’s legal aid community received some great news when Tom Morsch and his family recently committed to continue their generous endowment of the prestigious Thomas H. Morsch Public Service Award for an additional five years.

Tom deservedly has received a lot of recognition over the years for his tireless pro bono efforts and exemplary leadership in the legal community on access to justice issues. As a longtime partner at Sidley Austin and pro bono leader within the firm, Tom was one of the earliest advocates for getting private law firms to commit to pro bono service. Yet Tom always felt that the private bar received a disproportionate amount of recognition for their pro bono contributions compared to the lawyers who had dedicated their careers to public interest law at great financial sacrifice.

During his time as President of the CBF in the mid-1990’s, Tom got to know some of the many lawyers doing great work at Chicago’s pro bono and legal aid organizations every day outside of the spotlight. At the close of his two-year term, Tom wanted to find a way to recognize extraordinary public interest lawyers, so, in partnership with the CBF, he created the Thomas H. Morsch Public Service Award. The award includes a substantial cash prize to recipients, thanks to the generous endowment from the Morsch family.

“It always annoyed me that the people who did pro bono work at large corporate law firms were doing it on a lark; they were getting a lot of publicity and also were making a lot of money as lawyers,” Tom quipped. “In the meantime, there were people that dedicated their whole lives to do this stuff, usually working at nonprofits to help the poor or the discriminated.”

Since 1998, 18 outstanding lawyers from across the public interest legal spectrum have been lauded with the Morsch Award. They are champions for the poor, homeless, or disabled, or have worked tirelessly to ensure basic rights such as access to healthcare or children’s safety. Tom describes the “perfect Morsch candidate” as a top notch lawyer from a pro bono or legal aid organization who has made a demonstrable difference to Chicago’s legal community. He or she exhibits traits of perseverance and modesty, and is relatively “unsung” for their exemplary efforts.

Receiving the award was a like a stamp of validation for the first recipient, Rene Heybach at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

“During that period, you didn’t see your colleagues in public interest getting recognized in a meaningful way,” Rene recalls. “Once the bar had a formal recognition of my work, it opened the door to consideration for other recognitions and benefits.”

Several other recipients have since moved into leadership or director positions at their respective legal aid organizations.

2001 recipient Meg Benson (now Executive Director at Chicago Volunteer Legal Services), echoes Rene’s sentiment: “The award served as an affirmation that I was doing a good job, which allowed me to move forward and make, at times, hard decisions. This was, and remains, a highpoint in my career.”

Believing that the recipients may be tempted to use the cash prize to do something altruistic with the money awarded or give it back to their organization, Tom made it very clear that he wants them to spend it on something frivolous, like the trip they’ve always dreamt of taking but put off for financial reasons.

“They’ve spent their whole career being charitable; it’s time they were rewarded personally for what they’ve done,” said Tom’s son Jim, who chairs the selection committee for the award.

Some have put the money towards tangible necessities, like a second car. Heybach, for example, set aside half of the money for herself and invested the other half to help her young nephews through college. Others have sent the Morsch family postcards from around the world—Benson’s family spent a week in London and Paris and another family traversed the Land Down Under. Tom Yates, Executive Director at AIDS Legal Council and the 2013 award recipient, took the opportunity to visit his daughter, who was teaching English in Vietnam at the time. He and his wife were able to explore several parts of the country, including Saigon, the Mekong Delta and Hanoi.

On July 14, we will add another name to the list of deserving honorees when we present the 2015 Morsch Award at the Pro Bono and Public Service Awards Luncheon. On the sense of commonality that she feels with Morsch recipients, Rene remarks:

“There’s a great bond I feel with folks receiving that award, and that feeling of support, collegiality, and collaboration gets renewed every time the award gets awarded. None of us can work alone, and none of us wins something alone.”

THE LOOP — A new charity campaign launched last week by a Downtown business group has already garnered more than $100 in donations and one scathing letter from a local advocate for the homeless.

The Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless told the Chicago Loop Alliance on Wednesday that its “Change for the Better” campaign stigmatizes the people asking for money on Downtown streets, spreads misinformation about what is and isn’t legal panhandling, and violates the Illinois Homeless Bills of Rights.

“We worry about the stew of bias that gets cooked up about people that are in these desperate situations,” Rene Heybach, who wrote the letter and is senior counsel at the law project, told DNAinfo Chicago. “When we read that brochure we thought ‘this is setting our folks up to be targeted, especially in the tourist district.’ ”

Launched last week, Change for the Better implores Downtown visitors to give their money online to one of 15 non-profit organizations that serve the homeless instead of to individuals on the street. The website had raised $155 as of Thursday evening.

The campaign also involves the Loop Alliance’s Street Team Ambassadors, who passed out pamphlets defining what is legal “passive” panhandling and illegal “aggressive” panhandling to Downtown passersby last week. The Loop Alliance provides services on State Street from Wacker Drive to Congress Parkway to promote economic development and tourism in the area.

The CCH took exception to language in the pamphlets, which they believe implies any verbal request for money on the street is illegal. The pamphlet also advises Downtown business owners to call 911 as a first resort if they witness “aggressive” panhandling.

“The brochure suggests that ‘any statement or gesture which makes you feel fearful’ is unlawful,” Heybach wrote in the letter. “That is simply not true. If an individual has an irrational or bigoted fear of another, that should not criminalize legal activity.”

As of January, there were 20,546 people in Chicago’s Central Referral System, or waiting list for supportive housing. The average time for someone on the list who has not yet been housed is 322 days, Heybach said.

Instead of telling people not to give their money directly to the homeless, who she feels are being unfairly blanketed by the campaign as people who would abuse the generosity, the Loop Alliance and other organizations should focus on improving the environment around them, Heybach argues. She added the CCH was asked by the Loop Alliance to be one of the campaign’s beneficiaries, and the organization declined.

“What people are seeing on the street is really the lack of commitment of dollars to solving this problem,” she said. “It’s not the moral failure of the people on the street that needs to be arrested and treated with disdain, it’s really a structural question of the lack of housing for the poorest folks, lack of jobs, et cetera.”

Loop Alliance President Michael Edwards said pamphlets are being reviewed by its lawyers, and he would be happy to change any language that is “inconsistent” with existing law. He denied that his organization is targeting Downtown’s homeless population, saying he is “surprised” by the criticism and that the Loop Alliance’s street team referred 5,800 people to various local social services last year alone.

“Our record would indicate these are people with real lives, and if we can get them into services they need, that’s good for them and good for State Street,” he said. “We think we have the right program. It’s a bit of education and kind of connecting how people give using new technology.”

CCH’s Statewide Network organized the protest, mobilizing more than 150 people from nine organizations.

View the TV news report via this link.

CHICAGO (CBS) — Activists want to send a message to Governor Bruce Rauner that really hits home, so they are protesting outside his home.

CBS 2’s Roseanne Tellez reports protesters are ready to spend the night outside Rauner’s condo inside a Lakeshore East high rise.

The coalition of several community groups are protesting what they say are $18 million in budget cuts.

The group of about 150 people gathered over at the Bean in Millennium Park where the speakers revved up the crowd and then they hit the streets, marching over chanting and holding signs. They say Rauner’s cuts will spell disaster for the state’s homeless, poor, disabled and people with mental health and substance abuse problems.

“The actual proposed budget cuts make me just furious because Rauner really needs to take a look directly in the faces of the people who these cuts are going to hurt and not think of them as statistics,” said Julie Rush.

“Illinois is solving its problems on the backs of people least able to support that burden,” said Peggy Slater. “It’s a cheap shot and I don’t want to be a part of taking it.”

The group planned on putting up what they call “Raunervilles” and about 15 are planning on spending the night in a tent outside Rauner’s condo.

In response to the protest, the governor’s said the state is facing a hole because of insider deals and overspending and says the budget contains $15 million for services specifically designed to help the homeless and other assistance programs.

—

Groups participating were Access Living, Action Now, Jane Addams Senior Caucus, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH), Grassroots Collaborative, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), Northside Action for Justice, and ONE Northside.

Editor’s Note: CCH is a partner in the Keep Chicago Renting Coalition, led by Communities United (formerly the Albany Park Neighborhood Council). Other partners were Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, Lawyers Committee for Better Housing, and the Metropolitan Tenants Organization.

By Fran Spielman

The City Council on Wednesday took steps to plug holes that have limited the effectiveness of a two-year-old ordinance tailor-made to protect tenants displaced by rental building foreclosures.

The so-called “Keep Chicago Renting” ordinance requires banks that acquire legally occupied rental buildings at court-ordered foreclosure auctions to register with the city, send prompt notices to tenants and give those renters a choice between a one-year lease extension with no more than a 2 percent rent increase or a one-time relocation fee of $10,600.

Diane Limas, a volunteer with Communities United, said housing advocates have knocked on the doors of nearly 100 renters living in foreclosed buildings and surveyed impacted renters to gauge the effectiveness of the new law.

The results were disappointing. In 80 percent of “documented cases,” the new owners “exploited loopholes” that prevented the ordinance from providing the protections intended, she said.

“Oftentimes, new owners would cut off contact with renters after sending the proper notice. By cutting off contact, the new owner was able to remove tenants without paying the relocation assistance fee,” Limas told the Housing Committee earlier this week.

“Having the renters live in limbo — not knowing if they were being provided with a lease or the relocation assistance — would push the renters to leave in frustration if no one informed them of their rights under the law.”

On Wednesday, the City Council moved to end that confusion. The changes would:

* Require a dated initial notice to be sent to the tenant with an attached tenant disclosure form. Failure to return the form would not excuse the owner from responsibility to pay the $10,600 relocation fee or offer the tenant a rent-controlled, one-year lease extension.

* Establish a time frame for tenant notification. Building owners would have 21 days after the tenant returns the disclosure form — or 42 days under special circumstances — to notify the tenant which of the two options the owner has chosen to provide. Circumstances will be different if the tenant lives in a hazardous or illegally coverted unit.

*Extend the same protections to family members renting in the same building under a “bona fide” lease.

*Clarify that, for tenants occupying illegal units, the owner must either pay the relocation fee or provide another unit acceptable to the tenant.

Frank Avellone, a senior attorney at Lawyers Committee for Better Housing, said it is “a lot less chaotic out there” since the ordinance took effect in September 2013.

But with 3,000 foreclosure-related evictions still going on in Chicago, Avellone said there remains a “lack of communication and some manipulation” between guarantors, banks and tenants.

“These common-sense changes will help close that loop by making it clearer to both banks and tenants whose responsibility it is to do what and, more importantly, when. The original ordinance had no endgame. This places an end game on the whole process and will hopefully make things much more clear,” Avellone said.

Lucy Esquivel, who testified before the committee, is a poster child for the changes approved Monday.

One year ago, the Albany Park apartment where she lives with her husband and four kids was targeted for foreclosure. After being contacted by the bank and verbally offered the opportunity to stay, she filled out the appropriate paperwork, but hasn’t heard a word since, an interpreter told the committee.

“She’s been taking care of the building. She’s been paying for all the utilities and even after all this, the bank is trying to evict her when all she wants to do is try to stay,” the interpreter said of Esquivel, whose children attend a neighborhood school.

“If these changes were in place, there would be a process so this wouldn’t happen to other families like it’s happened to her.”

By Sue Ontiveros

One night a week I give a friend a ride home, and when we get off the Drive at Lawrence Avenue, that’s when I see them.

Actually, I shouldn’t say “them.” I don’t ever see people, just zipped-up tents. But I know they are inside, folks who obviously can’t afford to live indoors and, for whatever reason, don’t go to shelters.

OPINION

In an orderly little row, the tents line the viaduct. Often this winter they sat next to hills of snow plowed onto the sidewalk.

Every time we drive past, I can’t help but think, isn’t there another way?

So when I saw that Downstate Bloomington is considering a plan to build tiny houses for the homeless, I wanted to learn more.

Tiny houses are trending big these days, but until now I knew of them mostly in regards to those who see the petite places as a way to get rid of the clutter – real and metaphorical – in their lives. There’s even a show – “Tiny House Nation” – on cable.

Frankly, when I see tiny homes posted dreamily on Facebook, the cynical me is thinking: really, with your collection of shoes, you think a tiny house would work?

But tiny homes for the homeless? Now that sounds like an idea worth exploring.

The Bloomington plan that is being floated – by a team that includes representatives from the city, social service agencies and clergy – proposes building 350-square-foot homes at some $12,000 apiece. They would be placed near public transportation and there would be social services for the home dwellers as well.

Actually, according to the Pantagraph story on this proposal, Olympia, Wash., and Newfield, N.Y., each have a community of tiny houses for the homeless, as does Madison, Wis.

The affordability of building these tiny homes caught Ed Shurna’s eye. Shurna is the executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Building affordable housing is so costly, according to Shurna, that in Chicago it’s in the neighborhood of $300,000 a unit.

Ah, but affordable tiny houses? That’s something new, and intriguing. “It could be talked about in Chicago,” says Shurna. “It’s a nice way to get people off the street.”

Certainly, a number of factors would have to be considered, such as how the house would fit in a neighborhood – although there’s certainly no shortage of empty lots here – and Shurna sees value in involving some sort of sweat equity. “People get pride in something that’s theirs,” he says.

The idea of linking social services to tiny houses for the homeless is another good aspect of the Bloomington proposal. “For some people, [housing] without services isn’t the solution,” Shurna says. “Sometimes they just need some help.”

Shurna also pointed out that in new construction throughout the city, you can see the trend toward smaller housing, even for those who could afford more. (A building going up at Ashland and North is renting 400-square-foot units for $1,200, he points out.)

When I look at those tents, I often wonder if maybe the occupants choose that alternative because once the entry is zipped up, the person is in his or her own little world.

Tiny affordable houses could offer them that too, as well as heat, safety and dignity.