News

By Willie Wilson, September 7, 2023

What about the burgeoning homeless and affordable housing crisis? More than 200,000 families are on Chicago Housing Authority waiting lists, according to the CHA’s fiscal year 2023 report. The wait for public housing can take six months to 25 years. The Section 8 waitlist is currently closed. The CHA says the city has not received a major increase in vouchers over the last 30 years.

Continue reading Chicago Tribune – Willie Wilson: Why aren’t officials prioritizing unhoused Chicagoans in the same way they are asylum-seekers?

By  Belhú Sanabria, September 5, 2023

En su último reporte, la Coalición de Chicago para los Desamparados (CCH, por sus siglas en inglés) reveló que hay al menos 68,440 personas sin techo en Chicago, y de ellas el 82% son personas de color.

55,857 de las personas que viven sin techo en Chicago se identifican como negros, afroamericanos, asiáticos, isleños del Pacífico, indígenas americanos, nativos de Alaska, y multirraciales; 19,970 personas se identificaron como hispanos o latinos. Sólo 12.6% de las personas viviendo sin techo son blancos.

Continue reading La Raza – Más de 68,000 personas sin techo en Chicago luchan ante falta de vivienda

August 31, 2023

A new report from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) estimates 68,440 Chicagoans experiencing homelessness at the beginning of 2022. This reflects a 2,829-person increase from the previous year—up 4.30 percent. This estimate is inclusive of more than 44,000 people experiencing an often-hidden form of homelessness: doubling up or temporarily staying with others. Homelessness is not one-size-fits-all and there are many ways one person can experience it. Someone may sleep in a shelter, on the street, at a train station, and double up with others all in one week. All these living situations should be considered homeless. In 2022, Chicago tallied 3,875 people experiencing street and shelter homelessness. The Point-in-Time count tallies people experiencing street and shelter homelessness on a designated night of the year—usually every January. The Department of Housing and Urban Development does not include people doubling up with friends and family who are considered homeless and therefore is not counting them in their annual estimates and does not include them in who is eligible for housing.  CCH developed a method of estimating homelessness using American Community Survey data that includes those living doubled-up.

Continue reading Lawndale News – New Report Sheds Light on Chicago’s Growing Homelessness Crisis, Advocates Point to Bring Chicago Home as a Solution

By Lizzie Kane, August 24, 2023

The number of people experiencing homelessness in Chicago increased between 2020 and 2021, according to a new estimate from Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

The group finds that 68,440 people experienced homelessness in 2021, a 2,829 increase from the previous year, according to the coalition’s report published Thursday. The research shows shifts in the way people experienced homelessness, citing that 7,985 more people were staying on the street or in shelters as opposed to those temporarily staying with others compared with 2020 data.

Continue reading Chicago Tribune – An estimated 68,440 Chicagoans experienced homelessness in 2021, new report says

By Tessa Weinberg, August 24, 2023

An estimated 68,440 people were unhoused in Chicago in 2021 with a sharp jump in the number of people staying on the street or in shelters, according to a new report released Thursday by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

The coalition’s analysis included data both of people on the street or in shelters and the number of people who are “doubled up” or temporarily staying with others.

Continue reading WBEZ – Chicago’s homeless living on streets and in shelters sharply increased in 2021

By Alex Nitkin, August 23, 2023

If approved, Chicago would join cities like New York, Los Angeles and Evanston who’ve turned to the tax in recent years to pad their budgets — all to different effects.

Currently, all property buyers pay a flat 0.75% rate, regardless of the sale price. The Bring Chicago Home proposal, first pitched by housing advocates in 2018, would more than triple that one-time tax for properties over $1 million, including commercial properties. Proponents predict the tax could generate more than $160 million in annual revenue for the city to spend on homelessness and rehousing efforts.

Illinois law only allows municipalities to restructure their real estate transfer taxes if voters approve it in a binding referendum. The Chicago City Council still must approve the ballot measure before it reaches voters, and the language and specific tax rates they propose may change. But as currently written, Bring Chicago Home would charge a 2.65% tax on all property sales of more than $1 million.

Continue reading Next City – As Chicago Considers A ‘Mansion Tax,’ Evanston And LA Show Potential Paths Forward

By Fran Spielman, August 23, 2023

If Chicago voters and the City Council approve Mayor Brandon Johnson’s tiered plan to raise the real estate transfer tax on high-end home sales, the city will have $100 million in new money to combat homelessness every year.

Against that backdrop, a new report indicates at least one of the programs the Department of Family and Support Services already operates is spending city dollars wisely and with sensitivity.

In an audit released Wednesday, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg examined “Accelerated Moving Events,” which is when residents of homeless encampments “complete all the steps required” to secure housing and support services in one day.

Continue reading Chicago Sun Times-New audit by inspector general lauds city outreach to homeless encampments

By Laura Rodríguez Presa, August 22, 2023

Nearly 100 asylum-seekers who made a home at a community-run shelter in Pilsen must leave the building by Sept. 3 due to a confluence of bad luck that includes a lack of funding and volunteers.

Officials learned last week of the fate of the building said Lucia Moya, chief of staff of Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, whose office initially helped to gather volunteers and stakeholders in the community to open the space as a shelter in May to relieve crowding at the 12th District police station on the Near West Side.

Continue reading Chicago Tribune – Pilsen shelter set to close first week of September, forcing nearly 100 asylum-seekers back to police stations

By Rachel Hinton, Illinois Answers Project and Manny Ramos, Illinois Answers Project August 11, 2023

Some organizations say the city’s approach to counting people experiencing homelessness, which involves going out on one of the coldest nights of the year to count people, underestimates the size of the problem. The city doesn’t take into account people who live “doubled up,” which could include couch surfing with friends or family or other situations.

By any measure, the problem is only growing worse. The city has seen its homeless population nearly double between its 2022 “Point-in-Time” count and its 2023 snapshot of residents experiencing homelessness on a single night, jumping from 3,875 to 6,139. 

That’s the highest number of unhoused people logged in a city survey since 2015.  

Continue reading Block City Chicago – City Has Spent Only 15% Of $52 Million In Federal Money Dedicated For Homeless Programs

By Sarah Schulte, August 10, 2023

In a written statement, the corporation said that for more than a year it has implemented a loop of classical music at certain locations nationwide, including Chicago.

They’re not the only company to do so. Opera is the genre of choice for 7-11 stores. A few in Chicago also play music to deter loitering.

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless blasts the tactic.

“It is essentially treating them as less than human and treating them as a nuisance, whereas there are folks that are in need of housing and supports,” said Doug Schenkelberg, executive director.

Continue reading ABC 7-Walgreens is latest chain to blast classical music to deter loiterers