One of Chicago's toughest problems is creating homes for the unhoused

On a frigid Friday night in January, my 7-year-old and I saw a woman and her daughter standing in front of a Hyde Park grocery store. The temperature had dropped below zero, and neither wore a hat. The mother asked if I would buy her a few groceries. I did — cereal, milk, cookies and strawberries. She probably lived nearby in one of the 27 Chicago shelters housing migrants like her from South America.

On another Friday night, my family and I drove past an assemblage of orange tents — providing precarious shelter at best — underneath the Dan Ryan Expressway at Canalport Avenue. An estimated 68,000 people are unhoused in Chicago (a number that includes mostly people who are doubled-up living with relatives or friends) and the city oversees a homeless shelter network of 3,000 beds at 50 facilities run by community organizations.

The urgency and desperation of these two scenes are, sadly, normal. Two disparate populations in need of permanent housing.

Chicago faces the humanitarian, financial and political pressures of helping people find a place to live — whether they struggle with addiction, trekked through the Darién Gap to build a better life in the U.S. or can’t make ends meet. With Chicago on the stage for this summer’s Democratic National Convention, some activists feel this is the moment to demand that elected leaders prioritize permanent affordable housing for all.

“The ideal is we’d have a system that would serve everyone that needs it and there will be a path to permanent housing for everyone. You could have shelters that serve both asylum seekers and people who are traditionally homeless,” said Doug Schenkelberg, executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

Myriad obstacles stand in the way.

The need outpaces the beds. Advocates say there aren’t enough emergency beds for people experiencing homelessness. The influx of migrants either bused in or flown from Texas to Chicago is political pageantry that no one here could’ve been prepared for. Mixing populations would have to consider family structure, trauma and language.

For Bob Palmer, policy director for Housing Action Illinois, a centralized resource for anyone experiencing homelessness is what’s needed. Often, people struggling with housing need help in other areas such as employment.

“As opposed to thinking about a unified shelter system, it should be a unified service delivery and housing system that meets the needs of everyone and not just focused on the idea of shelter,” Palmer said.

The arrival of migrants to Chicago has created some backlash in neighborhoods. Some residents oppose shelters and question whether migrants are jumping in front of the traditional homeless population for services.

I’m dubious.

As a reporter who has covered housing issues, I’ve seen opposition to affordable and public housing, so I think that opposition would extend to shelters that didn’t lodge migrants. If the migrant shelters were traditional shelters being built or proposed in neighborhoods, trays of welcome cookies wouldn’t dominate community meetings. Then there’s the Bring Chicago Home campaign, which wants to restructure a real estate transfer tax on properties more than $1 million to fund permanent affordable housing for the unhoused. It’s on the ballot for voters next month and business groups have filed a lawsuit to stop the vote.

Working in the homeless field comes with opposition, said Christine Haley, chief homelessness officer for the State of Illinois. She’s heard the “not in my backyard phenomenon” when plans are unveiled to prevent homelessness. In common parlance, that’s known as NIMBY, when neighbors oppose projects or initiatives that may not directly assist their households. NIMBY-ism is as pervasive as dandelions.

“It’s on all of us to make sure that we are welcoming to our enhanced populations,” Haley said.

Meanwhile, the city says talks are underway to merge migrant and homeless services. No firm plans are currently in place, and seem to be a ways off.

But, as Palmer said, “it’d be great if the conversation could be focused on housing.”

Because if there was enough housing for everyone, no one would need a shelter.

Natalie Y. Moore is the Race, Class and Communities editor at WBEZ and writes a monthly column for the Sun-Times.

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