Biden is starting to lose this Liberal with his immigration policy
Not all Democrats are buying into the "criminal immigrant" accusations, but competing homelessness is a concern
The first time I walked past this park and saw tents everywhere, I smiled. I thought back to my Girl Scouts days of roasting s’mores, making a campfire, earning badges, eating Ants on a Log and Dirt Cake, and running away from that frog that kept hopping in and out of our cabin. I remembered how much fun it was doing Creative Writing workshops, cooking activities and singalongs at the church where our Girl Scouts location met. I knew to shut up immediately when one of my Girl Scout leaders held her right hand in the air with all fingers and thumb extended. Good times.
I thought it was dope to see all of these people in a park, relaxing and hanging out near or inside of their tents and briefly humored the idea of joining them. That is, until my naive observation was met with reality; these people weren’t sleeping here for fun. They were homeless.
Recommended Read: “Protecting the homeless even when you can't afford to ~ Passerby effect: Should you leave homeless people alone even when you're not sure they're in danger?”
Since the summer of 2021, parks like Tent City included tent encampments because of the rise in homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Rogers Park (a North Side neighborhood of Chicago), the Touhy Park district moved a day camp to Pottawatomie Park, closed the field house and relocated all the programs because of Tent City. Then it made sense to me why I was seeing a flurry of children near one of my neighborhood dog parks when I don’t recall seeing classroom desks and day camp games in prior years.
Recommended Read: “Are lack of dog parks a sign of racism? ~ Why are there more dog parks in white and diverse neighborhoods?”
But if you walked past Touhy Park in mid-March of last year or later, the tents are long gone. But according to Block Club Chicago, not all the people who left their tents found permanent housing — even with more than $35 million in CARES Act funding and a $1.3 million investment from Chicago Funders Together to End Homelessness (CFTEH) that was awarded to All Chicago Making Homelessness History.
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How is homelessness affecting Chicago?
In 2020, Illinois estimated unhoused people at 10,431 living on the streets and shelters. A year later, that number ballooned to 68,440 living in shelters, unsheltered or temporarily living with someone else. While many are U.S. residents, it’s impossible to ignore Chicago’s sanctuary status for immigrants.
As of May 9, 2023, the Point-In-Time (PIT) Count observed more than 8,000 asylum seekers who have arrived in Chicago since August 2022, primarily bused in courtesy of Texas via Governor Greg Abbott’s order. Chicago opened emergency shelters for asylum seekers — 98% of which originated from Latin American counties such as Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. But with Black Chicagoans making up more than half (53%) of the total population experiencing homelessness, I’m now wondering, “Where are they being housed now? Are they on these heated buses in these below-zero temperatures? Are they prioritized in these U.S. shelters?”