Credit: Audrey Richardson/Chicago Tribune
Resources for unhoused
“Shifting the tents from one park to another … doesn’t solve anything.”
We agree with this statement from the Tribune Editorial Board in the Sept. 14 editorial. We also agree that the city should “commit to … permanent housing solutions” and that, as a community, we are able to quickly connect people to housing when the political will and resources exist.
The editorial board, however, does not acknowledge that the city lacks the resources necessary to provide permanent housing at scale for people experiencing homelessness in Chicago’s parks and throughout our city. Suggesting that the Park District evict community members sleeping outside — without sufficient resources to house them — contributes to the pattern of displacing people from one park to the next. This kind of displacement, combined with the Donald Trump administration’s threats to funding and to best practices such as “housing first,” would make our local communities even more hostile to people sleeping outside.
Additionally, the editorial reinforces inaccurate assumptions about unhoused people, such as that their presence inherently creates a risk to public safety. People experiencing homelessness are significantly more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators and are often seeking safety, community and survival together in parks and under viaducts.
The editorial board and Ald. Samantha Nugent, 39th, also suggest that people aren’t willing to “accept” housing, when the reality is that there simply isn’t enough affordable housing for everyone in need. For every one person who moves into housing, nine more people become newly homeless. Moreover, the short-term housing options often come with a significant set of barriers, with people being asked to relocate to a different part of the city and without their partners, pets, belongings and sense of community.
We seek partnership from elected officials, civic leaders and community members to focus together on the actual solution — housing — and to work with us to generate new, dedicated, sustainable revenue to fund the permanent housing and services our community deserves.
Too often, we focus on the quick fixes to the optics of visible homelessness and not the collaboration needed to truly solve homelessness in a dignified, permanent way.
— Emily Krisciunas, executive director, Chicago Funders Together to End Homelessness, and Doug Schenkelberg, executive director, Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness
