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* The typical angry, knee-jerk reaction likely prompted by yet another Fox News uproar…
KICK THEM OUT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
— Carlos el Pucelano (@carloslikestoh1) February 16, 2023
Make no mistake, this is a very real problem. Nobody wants people to be homeless. Some just don’t want to ever see it. Others want to solve it. The powers that be too often try to find some sort of middle ground that just hasn’t worked.
* The mayor’s response via the Sun-Times…
In remarks to reporters Thursday, the mayor acknowledged the seriousness of the problem — which she said was different than encampments beneath viaducts, in parks and elsewhere on city streets — even as she argued that the conservative media had blown the issue out of proportion.
“We have taken and will continue to take the steps that are necessary to move people out of the airports,” she said. “The airports are a very different place than on the street under an underpass.”
I’m sure Chicagoans just loved to hear that last sentence.
* Keep in mind that the area near the airport is also struggling with the problem, according to Block Club Chicago…
The city’s 2022 data suggests the number of unhoused people decreased since 2021. Advocates say the counting strategy vastly underestimates homelessness, not accounting for people more hidden from public view or temporarily doubling up with others.
“On the Northwest Side, we don’t have any of the infrastructure and so there are more publicly-facing homeless people … but we [also] have a lot of people tucked away,” said Monica Dillon, who runs The Northwest Side Homeless Outreach volunteer group. “There’s chronic pervasive homelessness versus transitory homeless folks — and those are the numbers that are through the roof and not always captured by an annual count.”
* Also from the same Sun-Times report…
But a law enforcement source said that starting this week, additional police manpower has been dedicated to offering services to homeless people — and removing those who don’t accept the help.
As we’ve discussed time and time again, police mismanagement has stretched the force way too thin. And now officers are supposedly “offering services” to homeless people when the city already is paying a contractor to do just that?
* Tribune…
While sheltering at the airport isn’t new, the steadily increasing number of people doing it is, said Jessica Dubuar, director of health and specialty services at Haymarket Center. The center has conducted outreach operations out of O’Hare to address homelessness in public transportation since 1990. […]
In addition, the number of beds in homeless shelters was decreased at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and never restored. Meanwhile, migrants who have recently arrived in the city are using homeless shelters, and homeless shelters across the city are overwhelmed.
But just replacing the beds that the city previously cut isn’t gonna work in the long term. Temporary shelter is just that.
* For now, though, they’ve been swept under the rug a week before election day…
As CBS 2’s Marissa Perlman reported Friday night, homeless advocates are wondering where all those people will end up.
But in Terminal 1, they are gone. Near baggage claim in the terminal at 10 p.m. on any given night, you would typically see dozens of homeless community members taking shelter from the cold. Just two weeks ago, homeless people were seen sleeping on heating grates and crowding the terminal.
Out of sight, out of mind. Until they’re once again no longer out of sight.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 9:58 am
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O’Hare airport is connected to the City of Chicago by a thin strip that is basically a highway. It is surrounded by suburbs. While it is certainly true that Chicago itself can do more about those without homes, it is also true that the surrounding suburbs can step up. And while it is true that the NW side of Chicago seems to have a lack of services, it is probably also true that the folks in need are from a variety of neighborhoods and suburbs. Everybody do better.
Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 10:08 am
Americans will suggest any solution to homelessness except actual housing of some kind.
Comment by Homebody Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 10:14 am
“officers are supposedly ‘offering services’ to homeless people when the city already is paying a contractor to do just that?”
I’m not sure what services they’re offering, but I am certain that they don’t need to be delivered by someone with a gun.
– MrJM
Comment by MisterJayEm Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 10:43 am
Better management indeed. There are people living in the spaces in the subway between the Blue Line stops. I’ve seen people on the trains without clothes or shoes on in the middle of the winter. I feel genuine sympathy for them because it is clear there are mental health issues, but they are a threat to themselves if they don’t have shoes on in the middle of winter in Chicago. No one removes them because it just impacts normal people. But the airport is for the rich, so out comes the force. So typical.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 10:49 am
There was a major blizzard in the 1090s and the homeless wound up sheltering and sleeping on the floors of Chicago’s City Hall. This building was replaced by the present City Hall that remains in use today.
Comment by Gravitas Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 10:58 am
Re the Northwest Side, the reason the 45th ward got Alderman Gardiner is because the previous alderman brought some affordable housing for veterans and the disabled to the ward and many conservative voters were outraged. Alderman Napolitano in the 41st ward has repeatedly blocked affordable housing near the Cumberland Blue Line station. Then they complain about the homeless at O’Hare and the Jefferson Park CTA terminal.
Comment by Big Dipper Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 11:08 am
== because it just impacts normal people.==
Define normal.
Comment by Big Dipper Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 11:12 am
Compassionate conservativism in action.
Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 11:37 am
Shuttered schools located throughout Chicago could be repurposed as homeless shelters. Classrooms are divided and bathroom facilities are available on each floor. Office spaces could be used for social services and mental health treatment. Nutrition/ meals available in the cafeteria.
By creating structure and stability for homeless individuals, many might benefit from this effort. The city must find a solution for this chronically neglected population.
Comment by Rudy’s teeth Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 11:51 am
Once again, the city is focused on a quick response to a high-profile crisis instead of investing in a long-term solution - permanent housing with supports. It works. We need political will to make it available at scale. With the Lightfoot Administration, they only find the political will to squash advocacy for long term solutions.
Comment by Montrose Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 11:53 am
===With the Lightfoot Administration, they only find the political will to squash advocacy for long term solutions.===
She ran in 2019 on increasing the real estate transfer tax to fund homelessness services, but like everything with her, it was just a ploy to grab attention.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 11:57 am
America’s gears are grinding…
Comment by Dotnonymous Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 12:08 pm
===She ran in 2019 on increasing the real estate transfer tax===
2019 Lightfoot and 2023 Lightfoot. Lot of water under that bridge.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 12:18 pm
A major management issue Mayor Lightfoot has is she has refused to manage as Candidate Lightfoot ran on, and every management failure/challenge is seemingly part of being exactly as Lightfoot said was “terrible”, and… defending the terrible.
Candidate Lightfoot would be tough on Mayor Lightfoot…
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 12:24 pm
As a society, we need to take care of those without food and shelter. We can afford it. Imagine if the money thrown at millionaires and billionaires in the form of tax breaks and improvements (see current discussion on the Bears as an example) were instead used to help the folks who actually need it.
To those who claim to be “Christian” conservatives, there’s Matthew 25: 31-46 which tells us we should care for the homeless, hungry, sick, and imprisoned and then concludes “Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment…” (Funny how this rarely enters the conversation.)
cite: https://www.bartleby.com/108/40/25.html#S123
Comment by Pot calling kettle Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 12:56 pm
I have a friend that works at ORD on 3rd shift as a plumber.
He has said the homeless pile off the CTA stop and head to the nearest bathroom to engage in all sorts of activities besides self care. He has found people naked, shooting up, and defecating on the floor.
He did not sign up for this detail.
Can’t the resources to help the homeless be stationed right when they’re entering ORD property?
Seems like the best time to help.
Comment by Loop Lady Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 1:31 pm
There is enough for every one…only if fairly distributed.
“Savages” used potluck…how much better, Us than Them?
Comment by Dotnonymous Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 1:31 pm
I’m not convinced that lack of affordable housing contributes to people living on the street in Chicago. Doubling up with other families, taking in roommates, yes this happens. Most of the folks out on the streets are in far worse shape and the rent would have to be extremely affordable (think SRO affordability) for them to afford it and then only sometimes.
Comment by cermak_rd Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 1:35 pm
===rent would have to be extremely affordable ===
And?
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 1:37 pm
Pot calling kettle:
You must know the same “Christian” conservatives that I do.
Comment by btowntruth from forgottonia Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 2:29 pm
“I’m not convinced that lack of affordable housing contributes to people living on the street in Chicago.”
There is a whole lot of data out there that says you hunch is not correct.
Comment by Montrose Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 3:15 pm
Don’t get me wrong I am in support of affordable housing. I just am not in support of using affordability as a reason to build expensive housing in trendy areas in the grounds that this will drive down prices. Yes it will, but not to an extent that it will be helpful to people living on the streets. Those folks are going to need subsidized housing (and I’m in favor).
Comment by cermak_rd Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 3:41 pm
@Homebody +1
Comment by Odysseus Tuesday, Feb 21, 23 @ 8:50 pm