Friday, August 12, 2016

Community Meeting With DFSS Commissioner About Homeless Tent Cities


From Ald. Cappleman's latest newsletter:

"COMMISSIONER MORRISON-BUTLER DISCUSSES UPTOWN HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS

When: Monday, Aug. 15 from 7pm - 8pm
Where: Weiss Memorial Hospital, 4646 N. Marine Drive

Lisa Morrison-Butler, the Commissioner for the Dept. of Family & Support Services, will provide residents with an update on the City's housing-first pilot project that started in Uptown. You will hear what is working well and what are some of the ongoing challenges. Time will be set aside for questions from the audience."

6 comments:

  1. On April 25, 2016, alderman Cappleman said: Two weeks ago, the Dept. of Family & Support Services assessed the specific needs of approximately 75 people living along Lake Shore Drive, and work is now underway to get them into housing within the next 90 days.

    Hope they can keep their "90-day promise". Wait, I think it's past.

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  2. The problem is there just isn't enough of a supply of subsidized or affordable housing. I don't know where they would magically place these folks, there are already plenty of people who stay out of sight in shelters who have been waiting far longer than 90 days to get in somewhere. And most of these folks probably have no income and the ones that do are only getting a little over $700 a month. I have got nothing against the federal gov't spending our tax dollars to house the hundreds of new middle eastern refugees you see all around Foster and Sheridan, but how about taking care of American citizens too?

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    1. The supply IS there and CHA continues to hide it! The Feds had to tell them that thy couldn't sit on that much money. Fat lot of good that did.The silence from the city about this is deafening! Come back Feds, and make CHA release its units that you subsidize.

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    2. Twopowes is correct in saying the supply is there.cha is holding on to units and voucher $$ for folks that were given the right to return. It's actually not difficult to get a studio for single seniors on voucher. Even better if they have been evicted. The tax exempt buildings and cha buildings almost always have one. If not, the list moves very quickly.

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    3. One thing that DFSS can do is give the homeless a ticket out of town. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/tripping/wp/2016/03/25/portland-wants-to-give-homeless-people-a-free-bus-ticket-out-of-town/
      Portland and other cities do it. These people have family or friends. Some of the family have been looking for them, because some of the homeless are out of towners.

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  3. I was running the other day under the Wilson viaduct, I had to run in the street because of the crowding. The smell was overwhelming and one of the residents of tent city was pooing into a sewer in the street. This is out of control!!

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