Rapid Homeless Events Seems to Help Homeless People in the City – Chicago Magazine

First, Sydney Carter was fired from his job as a dishwasher when the restaurant he worked for went out of business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last month, Carter lost his apartment after his savings ran out and the state’s eviction moratorium expired. Since then he has been 7348 N. Paulina St. He lives in a tent at Touhy Park in Tokyo and joins about 12 homeless men and women who started camping in a 6-acre park in July.

“One day I came here and saw a tent and started hanging out here,” says Carter, 49. “It’s safer here than riding the train all night. You do what you need to survive.”

Donated by a neighbor named Rogers Park Solidarity Network, tents and sleeping bags keep Carter warm even when night temperatures approach freezing. Night shift buses provide food and medical care once a week. Just Harvest and Rogers Park Food Not Bombs also donate food to the homeless.

There has long been a homeless jungle near Margate Park, Uptown, Roosevelt Road and Des Plaines Street, and the Dan Ryan Expressway. But this year, tents have emerged in nearby parks as a result of the financial pain of COVID.Homelessness has already increased in 2020, “a pandemic only exacerbated the homeless crisis,” said the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Mercia Fudge declared earlier this year..

“It’s hard not to see it as an effect,” said Aldo, Ward 49. Maria Harden. “Climb the lakeshore drive. You see more people camping. During the pandemic, we definitely see more people not evacuating. Those Some may have been able to collide with friends before, but it is no longer considered safe for COVID. “

Elsewhere in Haden’s ward, homeless people are sleeping under the viaduct at Howard Street’s “L” station.

Over the weekend, Hadden held a public meeting outside the Toe Park Fieldhouse, announcing plans to find a permanent home for campers. On Thursday, Family Support Services officials will take the homeless to the Broadway Armory, where they can sign up for one of the 20 units available. Haden calls it an accelerated housing event, or rapid home rebuilding. Applicants must have a permanent home within 2 weeks to 1 month. Funding from federal CARES law has allowed the city to speed up a process that previously took 200 days.

“They’re going to take us downtown to get a state ID,” said Jerome Smith, a 70-year-old former Marine who has been sleeping in the park since summer. “I had it, but I’m homeless. I’m in the” L “. They stole my wallet. “

Life in the camp is “quite good,” Smith said. “They give us sleeping bags, blankets, food and snack packs.” Still, Smith is anxious to sleep indoors.

“I only want one bedroom or a studio,” he said. “I kept everything by the Red Line. I’m going to have my little place. I’m an interior decorator. I got everything. Get me that Break the tent. “

According to Smith, campers use toilets in “Walgreens and Jewels,” but Hadden heard during a meeting from residents who complained that homeless people were urinating and defecation in the alleys. Park field houses are normally closed, so city councilors are working with the park district to install portable toilets.

Drinking alcohol and the use of narcotics are also problems in camps. The man sits by the fence at the northern end of the park and sips from the Miller High Life Tallboy. On October 17, Carter saw rescuers pull the overdose victim’s body out of the tent. This is an incident confirmed by Alder Woman’s office.

“Some are dope demons and some are addicts,” Carter said. “I saw a man’s OD. It’s a bad shot of heroin.”

The Rapid Rehousing event does not necessarily mean the end of the Toe Park camp, Haden said. Some campers may refuse to live because they are part of a town that you do not want to live in, or for personal reasons. If so, the city has a policy of not driving the homeless out of the park.

“Still, that doesn’t mean people may not live in Toe Park,” Alder Woman said.

Carter is not one of them. He will go to the Broadway Armory on Thursday to sign up for a home.

“I’m just passing by,” he said. “I’m not going to the park when the weather is really harsh. I hope I can get some kind of housing on the same day and get back to work.”

Rapid Homeless Events Seems to Help Homeless People in the City – Chicago Magazine

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