Last fall, members of an encampment were evicted from the site of a planned Coastal Natural Area along Lakeshore Drive north of Lawrence, designed for community members to enjoy migratory birds. We confirmed these facts with the Chicago Park District: “The project has been in the works since at least 2016, when some local advocates brought the idea to parks officials. The Park District received a $116,000 grant from the federal government in 2021 to go toward the coastal natural area.”
We reached out to Adam Gottlieb, organizer with Chicago Union of the Homeless, to learn more about houselessness in Uptown.
CAS: Can you give an overall brief description of homelessness in the Uptown area?
AG: The homelessness crisis in Chicago has been especially acute in Uptown for decades. This is partly because there are a number of resources available to folks there, and there is a history of people organizing into tent encampments. But the resources available throughout the City and in Uptown are not enough to keep up with the crisis, and the City spends much of its resources on moving people "out of the way" rather than investing in housing-based solutions.
CAS: What are some of the circumstances that lead to homelessness in Uptown?
AG: Gentrification causes rising rents and housing prices that have been making it harder and harder for people to afford to live in their own neighborhood for over 50 years in Uptown.
According to residents of the parks in the area, there were something like 25 people living in the park that is now fenced off for the construction of the Coastal Area. Many have lived in Uptown for a long time, and have lost their housing due to a number of factors, often medically related. (One emergency leads to a crisis).
CAS: According to the Park District they worked with Department of Family and Support Services to connect people from the encampment with housing opportunities. How did that go?
AG: From what we saw and heard on site, only a few people were offered placements in the Franciscan shelter in Pilsen. No one was offered real opportunities for housing other than the existing waiting lists that most people are already on, and which typically take years to match people with placements.
CAS: What services are available to homeless people?
AG: Aside from the churches and other non profits in the area that offer various assistance (mostly meals), anyone can call 311 to gain access to the City of Chicago's resources available to people experiencing homelessness. DFSS is the main City organization that interfaces with people experiencing homelessness, and most of what they offer is placements in the shelter system, through which the City partners with a variety of nonprofits, each with their own individual rules, nuances, and problems. Because of a relative scarcity of available shelter beds on any given night in Chicago (compared to the number of folks who might need them), most shelter placements that people get access to are not in the neighborhoods where they reside. Many folks who live out on the streets have chosen at one point or another to sleep outdoors rather than in shelters because of a wide range of problems, mostly involving disrespectful or abusive treatment and inhumane conditions.
CAS: Big picture, do you know what the City’s plan is to address houselessness and can you comment on it? What would you like to see?
AG: Unfortunately the City does not seem to have a plan to address the crisis of houselessness, although there is no lack of solutions that housing activists have put forth. The Bring Chicago Home campaign has proposed a measure that uses a simple one-time Real Estate Transfer Tax on sales of buildings over a million dollars to address the crisis, which would be a good start, and housing activists have been fighting for this for many years.
In the Chicago Union of the Homeless we have talked a lot about the need for the City to utilize vacant spaces, both those owned by CHA and privately owned units. There is a growing consciousness in Chicago and around the nation that there are more empty housing units than people who need them. This situation is untenable and revolutionary. People who need housing must be offered housing-first solutions with needed wraparound services including health care, job training, etc.
Links for further information
https://www.chicagohomeless.org/estimate-of-homeless-people-in-chicago/
Graphic by local artist, birder and restoration volunteer, Becca Hallstedt. Follow her @weneedtogooutside