Chicago must do more for its homeless residents, advocate says: 'There isn't housing available'

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — As local groups continue working to get homeless Chicagoans off of the city’s streets and trains — and into permanent housing — a leader with one organization says it’s no small task.

Doug Schenkelberg, executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, said people shelter together on public transportation and on the streets, for a sense of safety and community.

“When we see folks experiencing homelessness, whether it’s on the streets, the bus, in the pedway or other places, the primary reason they’re in that spot is because there isn’t housing available,” he said.

He said permanent shelter is needed for the city's more than 68,000 unhoused residents.

“The resources needed to address the needs of those experiencing homelessness aren’t nearly as great as they should be,” he said.

On Monday, four people were shot and killed as they slept on a Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line train that was rolling into the Forest Park Station. Not much is known about the victims, but at an unrelated event in Uptown on Tuesday, Mayor Brandon Johnson said he will continue fighting for funding to help the homeless.

“We obviously were pushing for revenue to respond to this crisis, but we had powerful interests that wanted to block those efforts,” he told WBBM Newsradio.

Schenkelberg said the city’s crisis response initiative — Treatment Not Trauma — is an example of offering social service engagement instead of police and is a critical resource. He added that the solution to homelessness is what’s known as the “housing first” model.

“What that model says is: The best way to treat someone’s issues that they’re dealing with is to first get them into permanent housing, and then start to work to work on all of these issues that are in their lives,” he said.

WBBM's Nancy Harty contributed to this report.

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