City shuts down work on wooden 'tiny house' structure at Dan Ryan homeless encampment

The city has shut down work on a more secure structure for a resident of an encampment along the Dan Ryan Expressway.

The Orange Tent Project began building a temporary shelter, resembling a sort of tiny house, this month for a longtime resident of the encampment near Desplaines Street and Roosevelt Road in the South Loop. On Thursday evening the city placed a “stop work order” on the 6-by-8 foot structure, saying it was built without plans or permits. The developments were first reported by Block Club Chicago.

About a year and a half ago, Morgan McLuckie, chief executive of the Orange Tent Project — which has provided hundreds of ice fishing tents to unhoused people across the city — began working with architecture students at the Illinois Institute of Technology to design a safe and secure structure that would not require any permits.

“I wanted to come up with something sturdier than tents because ... people deserve more dignity and a more respectful place to lay their head each night,” McLuckie told the Sun-Times.

The design they landed on was under 400 square feet, less than 15 feet tall, and had no natural gas or electricity hook-up and no permanent foundation — within the parameters for building a shelter without permitting, McLuckie said.

The group began building the wooden structure toward the south end of the encampment March 3.

McLuckie originally wanted the shelter to go to an 80-year-old veteran and longtime resident of the camp named Smokey, but he died a day before building started.

“It is the most heartbreaking thing ever, a veteran, a senior veteran dying in a tent,” McLuckie said. “That’s what I want to avoid in the future. Nobody should have to die in a tent, especially somebody who served our country.”

The group planned to finish construction of the shelter over the weekend, but the Department of Buildings placed an off limits/do not enter sticker and a stop work order on the structure, “because it was built without plans or permits,” according to a department spokesman.

Morgan McLuckie/Provided

McLuckie was under the impression this structure did not require permitting and has been in touch with the department, providing information she found during the design process.

The organization is stuck in a holding pattern awaiting further guidance from the city. The structure is not yet finished and should not be occupied, though on Monday someone had placed their belongings on and around the porch.

No one at the encampment knew what the future held for the wooden shelter, but one man said he hoped for the chance to live in one.

In the fall of 2022, Andy Robledo launched his effort to purchase high-quality, bright orange ice fishing tents for Chicago’s unhoused population.

The city initially pushed back against the effort, placing removal tags on several tents, but the group says it has found a way to work collaboratively with the city toward a shared goal of ending homelessness.

McLuckie hopes they can find a way to work together on this latest project. There is no indication the city plans to tear the new structure down, McLuckie said.

The city estimates there were 6,139 people experiencing homelessness in 2023, with 5,149 living in shelters and 990 living on the streets.

There are about 25 to 30 orange tents at the encampment near Roosevelt and the Dan Ryan, McLuckie said. The encampment is not near any residential homes and rarely draws major complaints, McLuckie said, which is why Orange Tent Project thought it would be a good place for the new structure.

Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), whose ward includes the encampment, says he supports “innovation” when it comes to affordable housing and providing shelter, “however, this has to be consistent with land-use rules promoting safety and community well-being.”

While the orange tents provide some warmth during winter, they are still susceptible to the elements and not a “perfect solution,” McLuckie said.

McLuckie hoped that the wooden structure, modeled after a tiny home, would better protect people from the elements and offer greater peace of mind.

“Ultimately, feeling comfortable and having a place to rest your head at night is what’s going to get people out of their situation,” McLuckie said.

She received a note Monday from a man for whom she recently built a tent, which drove this message home.

The man wrote to McLuckie: “I just wanted to tell you how much you’ve enabled change in my life with the stability of a roof over my head and a good night’s rest each night and every night since receiving my tent. I’ve been able to enroll in the care collective workshop and work program as of March 4th. I arrived there every day well-rested and energized. I have three more weeks to go, and I’m very optimistic about my success.”

The mayor’s office did not respond to questions about the work stoppage order. It issued a statement last week pointing to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s support of a proposed bond ordinance that would allocate funds toward affordable housing, home ownership and wrap-around services.

The statement also pointed to Johnson’s efforts to pass the Bring Chicago Home ordinance, putting a referendum on the March 19 primary ballot asking Chicagoans to create a dedicated fund to combat homelessness.