Chicago Current Events: Homeless Happenings and Momeless Events (yes, momeless)
Suggested Homework Assignments Included
The homeless are in the news every single day in Chicago—as they should be!
The mainstream press covers many angles of issues about, despite, in conflict with, and caused by the unhoused residents of Chicago and Cook County both. Those darn unhoused people with their constant search for food, water, shelter, safety, and respect. Students beware: there are going to be questions on this material!
Today, for example, a trip down almost any major street will yield a scene of a variety of persons in the street seeking money or other resources. There are tents, there are encampments and villages of outdoor-dwellers, and there are shelters and hotels overflowing with temporary (and longer-term for that matter) residents.
The issue of what to do about, for, despite, etc., the unroofed persons living all over the city but NOT in an appropriate dwelling would be a great topic(s) for these kinds of essays and research papers for high school and college classes: 1) argumentation; 2) description; 3) cause & effect; and 4) persuasion. The plight of the unroofed Chicagoan or Cook-Countyan is not a simple one. Therefore, essays on definition or example are not complicated enough to cover topics using those formats and approaches.
Just how complicated is the topic—and how severe? The reader can do the homework assignments suggested below to learn more about the unhoused persons in Chicago and how they are being helped.
The current situation in Chicago is rather chaotic. We know that there are now well over 60,000 native homeless persons within the city. These are last-year’s figures now popping up. The number of unroofed people in Chicago went up steadily under Lori Lightfoot’s regime, was exacerbated by COVID-19, and has now gone up under Brandon Johnson.
Chicago is famous for many things: the bean, large sports teams, tall buildings, a long drive along the lakeshore that fills with snow as people decide to park there during blizzards instead of going home, and a burgeoning unhoused population. Oh, and expensive apartments and homes.
Assignment #1: Pick out four different neighborhoods and discover the amount of rent for apartments: a) studio; b) one-bedroom; c) two-bedroom; and d) two-bedroom with den appropriate for a home business. Note: which neighborhood has studio apartments below $500? Below $600? Below $700? Below $800?
Add to the mix over 20,000 more homeless people—mostly from Venezuela, Colombia, and Haiti. The city has decided to call them “migrants” from the earliest days of the bus arrivals, full of persons from elsewhere—but none of them bringing homes with them.
Assignment #2: Add 60,000 and 20,000. (Both of these numbers are lower than reality, but it is impossible to find ALL the native homeless and ALL the migrant homeless, that is to say momeless folks.
The migrants are technically homeless. Yes, let’s call them momeless from now on. Momeless means no dwelling of their own. That’s why they are living in shelters, inns, hotels, armories, and other sorts of public and private buildings. Under huge pressure to get taxpayers’ kids out of the house and back into park buildings so they can engage in important activities like basket-weaving and volleyball, the mayor has decided to demonize the homeless.
Assignment #3: Interview 10 taxpayers with children and ask them: a) if their family is homeless, or if they have a home they want to get their kids out of on a regular basis to play dodgeball with total strangers; b) where they think all the foreign-language-speaking momeless people should go live; c) how much cash they can contribute to build facilities for those momeless persons; and d) if the momeless families could come over to their house and sleep while the kids are out of the house and in the park district facilities doing calisthenics.
Back to our current events: Now being a migrant is a very bad thing, at least to persons in Brandon Johnson’s administration. StreetSense even recently mentioned:
“The mayor has now decided that the migrants (20,000 plus homeless persons in our midst) must leave the shelters and either 1) be placed in one of the city facilities being refashioned to accommodate them or 2) go through the process of applying to get into other shelters. There is also the welcome third option which is for them to magically find a place to live immediately. Well, it is welcome to the city so those persons can stop worrying about—and being responsible for—the migrants who do not fit option 1 or 2” (Get Off My Corner! - by Thomas Hansen - StreetSense (substack.com)).
So why has the mayor decided to pressure the migrants? Part of the reason is that the taxpayers on the south and west sides of the city feel he has abandoned them. This feeling is starting to grow into a Black Chicago force vs. the new migrants getting lots of funds, support, housing, attention, food, etc. This feeling which surfaced in a major way in this city in December is growing (Chicago City Council weighs sanctuary status at emergency meeting amid migrant crisis | Fox News).
So native Chicagoans (in concert with other Cook-Countyans for that matter) feel they got shafted. But why, exactly, and how? And how does that relate specifically to the native homeless in terms of the new momeless folks?
Assignment #4: Contact city departments, starting with 311 and the Office of Family and Social Services and ascertain how many native unroofed Chicagoans needing housing have been placed in an apartment long-term by the mayor since he took office. Then find out how many (Venezuelan, Colombian, etc.) momeless needing housing have been placed in an apartment long-term by the mayor since he took office. You may compare and contrast how much city, state and federal funding was used to accomplish number 1 and number 2.
Back in February, the news included more accounts of safety issues, a shooting, dead bodies, tents, encampments, viaducts, and other issues and events. Homelessness “is everywhere” is the rallying call about the people who just won’t go away—or won’t go inside—or won’t just go get an apartment and behave (Chicago homeless: Public safety concerns around homelessness crisis in the city as population grows, changes - ABC7 Chicago).
Now in April, the mayor has announced the opening of a 406-unit “affordable housing” apartment complex (City of Chicago :: Mayor Brandon Johnson Announces Sendy Soto as City’s First Chief Homelessness Officer).
That announcement includes news of a brand new “Chief Homeless Officer” to resolve everything above. Ms. Sendy Soto moves into the position. According to the mayor’s press crew, “Soto will be tasked with coordinating across City departments and sister agencies and developing a five-year plan to address the homelessness crisis in Chicago.” Soto will work with with the county, state, and federal government, particularly the Illinois Office to Prevent and End Homelessness (City of Chicago :: Mayor Brandon Johnson Announces Sendy Soto as City’s First Chief Homelessness Officer).
Funds to make the Soto position happen come from a collaborative called “Chicago Funders Together to End Homelessness” (Chicago Funders Together to End Homelessness (CFTEH) – We Are Michael Reese).
Assignment #5: Research the CFTHEH to find out who the 30 funders are and interview 5 officers of those foundations. Asked questions loosely-related to the info above.
The Soto position is grant-funded. Stay tuned.
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End-of-semester gestalt paper: Combine the most important points of your above assignments into a longer essay or research paper to paint a bigger picture of the issues, solutions, and realities of what you have found out about Chicago homeless and new momeless populations.