By Maxwell Evans March 25, 2022 8:34 a.m. CT
HYDE PARK — Diavionne “China” Brown, tired of being subjected to mental and physical abuse in an unstable living situation, left home in October.
Upon leaving, Brown experienced the struggles of homelessness and life in shelters — including her first shelter, where poor living conditions and institutional control left the 21-year-old “feeling like I was in jail,” she said.
Brown has since found a residence through the Expedited Housing Initiative, but some of her friends — like 58,000 other Chicagoans, according to pre-pandemic estimates — are still without a permanent place to live.