E.V. Alvarez

wttw-Local Officials, Organizers Working to Address Humboldt Park’s Growing Homeless Encampment

Posted on August 5, 2023August 11, 2023 by Vanessa Álvarez

By Acacia Hernandez, August 5, 2023

“We wanted them to feel humanized and dignified and that there wasn’t one broad stroke of stereotypes that were tagged to them, but rather I was there to affirm their lived experiences,” Fuentes said. “Their needs are diverse. We have individuals in that encampment who are veterans who have served this country who cannot afford to live in the city of Chicago. We have individuals who were evicted promptly after COVID.”

It’s not an issue isolated to Humboldt Park. According to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, more than 65,000 Chicagoans are currently unhoused.

Bruce Parry with the Illinois Union of the Homeless said it has been a growing issue ever since the pandemic hit.

NBC Chicago-Homeless youth: an invisible crisis

Posted on August 2, 2023August 11, 2023 by Vanessa Álvarez

By Sandra Torres, August 2, 2023

“Homeless Youth: An Invisible Crisis” features several eye-opening stories by NBC 5/Telemundo Chicago reporter Sandra Torres, who reveals many of today’s homeless youth are not necessarily living on the streets of Chicago or in shelters.

WBEZ Chicago-A step toward a ‘mansion tax’ in Chicago

Posted on August 1, 2023August 11, 2023 by Vanessa Álvarez

By Michael Liptrot, August 1, 2023

The City Council held a hearing Thursday to discuss a referendum on raising the city’s real estate transfer tax.

Reset checks in with WBEZ reporters on that story, why Chicago’s interim police superintendent is in hot water, the city budget and why street vendors are calling on Mayor Johnson for help.

Chicago Tribune-Moving migrants from police stations is ‘top priority,’ Mayor Johnson says on tour of new welcome center at Clemente high school

Posted on July 27, 2023July 27, 2023 by Vanessa Álvarez

By Alice Yin, July 17, 2023

Mayor Brandon Johnson toured a new welcoming center for migrants at a Chicago Public Schools campus on Monday, as hundreds of asylum-seekers continue to wait for shelter inside police stations with no immediate end in sight.

Johnson was joined by CPS CEO Pedro Martinez and other city officials inside Roberto Clemente Community Academy, where a new center dedicated to assisting young migrants in the West Town community area will debut this week, funded through CPS’ regular operating budget. The new resource hub — designed to help youth enroll in school, as well as connect with medical care, temporary housing and other social services — was pitched as a pilot program that the mayor’s administration hopes to replicate citywide.

Chicago Sun Times-Brandon Johnson building consensus behind the scenes before delivering progressive agenda, top aide says

Posted on July 27, 2023July 27, 2023 by Vanessa Álvarez

By Fran Spielman, June 29, 2023

The mayor risks disappointing progressive voters who put him in office, but deputy chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas isn’t concerned. In fact, the former state senator expects her fellow progressives to keep the heat on.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s game plan is different. He’s not interested in dictating outcomes. He believes in building consensus behind the scenes to make it easier to cross the goal line.

Deputy chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas described the new mayor’s style when asked why 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave for teachers and other Chicago Public Schools employees is the only item on the progressive agenda that Johnson has delivered.

2022 Year in Review Report

Posted on June 21, 2023June 21, 2023 by Vanessa Álvarez

CCH is grateful for the strong coalition of people with lived experience, community members, direct-service and advocacy organizations, institutional partners, donors, and volunteers who are working every day to prevent and end homelessness. This report highlights our advocacy, organizing, and legal services work over the course of 2022.

You can now view our 2022 Year-in-Review Report below:

2022-Year-in-Review-Web

Chicago Tribune-Chicago’s Walking Man wandered alone for decades. Loved ones say: ‘He observed everything. That was his adventure.’

Posted on June 11, 2023June 13, 2023 by Vanessa Álvarez

By Christy Gutowski, June 11, 2023

Doug Schenkelberg, executive director of Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, sees a sad irony in Kromelis’ story.

“A lot of people felt like they knew him even though they didn’t,” he said. “That sense of knowing him, I’m sure, had a huge piece as to why people wanted to support him. And that’s at the same time that a lot of people who are experiencing homelessness are actively ignored. People work to walk past them without looking at them. They don’t want to see the issue because it makes them uncomfortable.”

WBEZ-Chicago’s 311 help line, shelter system are struggling to keep up with demand

Posted on June 7, 2023June 13, 2023 by Vanessa Álvarez

By Stephanie Kim, June 7, 2023

A surge in calls for shelter requests is overwhelming Chicago’s 311 help line and shelter system. Reset discusses how the hotline works and what resources are needed to better serve unhoused people and asylum seekers.

Amy Qin, WBEZ data reporter

Doug Schenkelberg, executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

Mark Mulroe, president of A Safe Haven

LaShunda Brown, chief officer of quality and impact at the Primo Center

Note: We invited the Department of Family and Support Services to participate in this interview but the agency declined. A spokesperson sent the following statement via email:

WBEZ Chicago-There’s a surge in calls for shelter. Chicago’s 311 help line can’t keep up.

Posted on June 1, 2023June 2, 2023 by Vanessa Álvarez

By Anna Savchenko, Amy Qin, June 1, 2023

“The demand for resources, be it through 311 to get people into a shelter or any other piece of the shelter system, is so much greater than what the system can handle,” said Douglas Schenkelberg, the director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

Schenkelberg thinks Chicago should develop a long-term strategy to help both asylum-seekers arriving on the city’s doorstep and residents already on the streets. Otherwise, he said, the city “pits these two populations against each other.”

“We should focus on a single system,” Schenkelberg said, “that serves anyone who’s unhoused in the city of Chicago.”

In his mid-May inauguration speech, the former organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union promised to “Bring Chicago Home,” alluding to his support for an increased real estate transfer tax that would be used to fund homelessness prevention.

2023 CCH advocacy sees wins for students experiencing homelessness and returning citizens

Posted on May 30, 2023February 15, 2024 by Vanessa Álvarez

By Niya K. Kelly, Director of State Legislative Policy, Equity and Transformation

The Illinois General Assembly wrapped up its spring session this past Friday evening/Saturday morning (depending on if you think of the glass half full or empty). Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) worked on several legislative initiatives to best support people experiencing homelessness. With fiscal concerns fueled by an unexpected drop in projected revenue, the budgeteers were a bit more cautious in allocating funding to new and additional services.

Increased funding for housing and homelessness

This year Chicago Coalition for the Homeless asked for additional funding for four line-items. These line-items directly address housing security including homelessness prevention, homeless youth, permanent supportive housing, and emergency and transitional housing. Service providers struggle with the hard decisions around making cuts to services and turning people and families away when there isn’t enough space or funding to provide them with help. In addition, CCH asked for an increase in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grant program.

Author: Vanessa Álvarez

Increased funding for housing and homelessness