Reaction to “Aldermen Urge Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Administration To Act Fast On Homelessness: ‘We’re In The Middle Of A Crisis’ ” (by Justin Laurence, Block Club Chicago, September 29, 2021)
HOMELESS PEOPLE NEED APARTMENTS TO LIVE IN, NOT SHELTERS OR HOTELS OR WORKCAMPS
Once again the topic of where to put the homeless comes up, and once again people rely on the shelter model to solve the issue. Justin Laurence in Block Club Chicago’s Blog has just reported that aldermen and the City Commissioner Brandie Knazze feel the homeless numbers in Chicago constitute a “crisis” and something needs to be done. With the arrival of the huge COVID-19 relief coming soon to address housing problems in Chicago, even aldermen have an opinion on the homeless population needing to be assisted (by Justin Laurence, Block Club Chicago, September 29, 2021, https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/09/29/aldermen-urge-mayor-lori-lightfoot-administration-act-fast-homelessness-crisis/).
Alderman Harry Osterman of Ward 48 states, “We should be expanding the shelter system…” and hopes to get people housed. This reliance on the shelter model shows lack of understanding of what is needed. Shelters and hotels are temporary answers to the housing crisis referred to by so many people who are uninformed about homeless people’s needs and uneducated about the various methods and proven approaches to helping the homeless. There are schools of thought and methods that do actually work.
With the arrival of the huge COVID-19 relief housing money ($200 million of the $1.9 billion) specifically to help the homeless and other people in need, the homeless people are suddenly once again considered to be living in a state of emergency. Certainly housed, taxpaying, law-abiding citizens look at them that way. And now the aldermen have jumped on the emergency bandwagon.
City Commissioner Brandie Knazze also thinks it is important to get people into shelters and then gets them housed permanently, but later. Knazze says it is important to “be creative about new ways to support individuals and so we’re working with them to look at … maybe purchasing a motel, and in the short term using that as a shelter and then long-term permanent supportive housing.” However, one single hotel will not solve the housing problem.
We know from the Census that there are over 10,000 homeless families in Chicago. If a family means two or more people, that translates to at least 20,000 people—not including children, necessarily.
20,000 people will not fit in one hotel. This is the wrong path to follow. Purchasing hotels and putting over 20,000 people does not seem to make sense—even a child could tell you this is foolish.
The shelter model as a temporary means of assistance is not as safe or reliable as some other methods. The shelters and the hotel stays are temporary. Shelters of course are not designed—or maintained—for longer-term residence. They have other problems too. I have talked about some of the problems with COVID-19 infection, for example, in some of my previous discussions of this topic (Where to Put the Homeless? Two Paths to Choose From, by Thomas Hansen, December 27, 2020, Second City Teachers: Where to Homeless?). There have been improvements in the shelters regarding pandemic issues since then.
More innovative methods like using hotels should again be thought of as temporary means of getting homeless people off the streets. While some hotels are clean and safe, they are not all great locations to live in. Certainly your average homeless neighbor does not want to live in a place sometimes with no kitchen, only expensive food and lodging options—such as no refrigerator to keep leftovers, no microwaves to heat soup or coffee, or no good place to hang clothing.
The solution always comes back to what is called “housing first.” In this model, helpers (social workers, planners, HUD staff) simply 1) find an apartment for the homeless person to move to, 2) find resources such as deposits for utilities, 3) secure furniture and dry goods, 4) find pantries and stores near the apartment, and then absolutely essential: 5) provide ongoing counseling and advice. Ongoing help finding local resources and maintaining an apartment are crucial.
Information about the neighborhood, CTA routes, and other necessary resources must be available to the new resident (formerly homeless) so that they can pick up and go with the apartment. Housing first, after all, gives the formerly homeless a place to sleep, to bathe, to cook, and to dine.
The homeless person, once housed and considered a new resident, can go on to do whatever they should be doing at their stage of life, in their individual situation. A retired person should be relaxing, learning about health solutions, and perhaps volunteering at a food pantry or tutoring students in a nearby school. A working-age person should be sending job applications or learning job skills in a program from a nearby agency. A person with a disability should be connected to the local resources for those services.
Housing first (which I talk about in other articles) is the model that needs to be used. The idea is simple: with the housing in place, the person can do more than just survive temporarily. Instead, they can begin living, be encouraged, be empowered, and be a participant in life.
Readers can learn more from reading this excellent article “Housing First”, by the National Alliance to End Homelessness (April 26, 2016, Housing First - National Alliance to End Homelessness). The Alliance explains, “This approach is guided by the belief that people need basic necessities like food and a place to live before attending to anything less critical, such as getting a job, budgeting properly, or attending to substance use issues. Additionally, Housing First is based on the theory that client choice is valuable in housing selection and supportive service participation, and that exercising that choice is likely to make a client more successful in remaining housed and improving their life.”
Housing First is the model that should come to mind. With 200 million dollars, Chicago should be able to pull this off. Get people into an apartment. Provide them with the resources—financial and personal—to give the people a safe springboard into a new life.
Temporary fixes like expanding shelters, buying hotels, or renting rooms are all going to cost the taxpayers plenty of money. And for how long do the commissioner and aldermen plan to keep the homeless in those locations?
It seems like once again people are sharing their opinions on the homeless “crisis” without knowing the realities of what is happening out there, what the experts are saying, what homeless people what and need, and how much money would be burnt up by expanding shelters, buying hotels, or renting rooms.
HOUSING FIRST IS THE ANSWER. HOMELESS PEOPLE NEED APARTMENTS TO LIVE IN, NOT TEMPORARY FIXES.