Do the cops even check on these people? There should be well-being checks to make sure they're not dead or something. It's not so reassuring that if I were laid out on the sidewalk in Uptown, people would probably just walk by because it's so commonplace. This should not happen! We need to enable the police to scoop these guys up and throw them into detox.
The 20th and 23rd Districts have specially trained CARE officers. The citywide CPD trained them to address the homeless population in sensitive ways (just as other officers are designated / or trained to interact with other special interest groups in Uptown). Last year the CARE officers only worked the 1st shift (early morning) not afternoons or nights.
But, responsibility for encouraging homeless persons to enter shelter, transitional and permanent housing care lies more with Chicago’s Dept of Human Services. They send a mobile services unit (a huge mobile home) to Uptown around 9:00 p.m. each evening to offer services and housing to the homeless. It parks near Weiss Hospital or the Broadway Salvation Army. If local shelters are filled, they offer free transport to other shelters in the city. No one ever has to sleep on the street, even in the summer. People can go to designated locations, such as the police station, to be linked to assistance. However, even on the streets there are rules, and Homeless persons must go to the mobile unit or get to the shelter before the cutoff time.
Human Services sweeps some Uptown areas with transport vans. But, homeless persons have every Constitutional right to reject housing and services and remain on the public way. Records are kept as to who sleeps in the shelters each night (like a hotel check-in). Private health and medical records are also kept on individuals serviced on the street to facilitate identifying their needs and offering housing and more services. You may not know these homeless persons, but they are generally known to the city workers and other agencies that regularly provide benefits and services to them. Some chronic persons I’ve highlighted to Human Services have rejected housing and services more than 70 times.
However, because of the high number and close geographic concentration of free public food programs and services Uptown is one of the major areas that city workers and social agencies route homeless to. (Build it and they will come)
Well, if anyone was hoping for a better managed, more secure Aldi, you may as well use the Cub fans' mantra, "Wait 'till next year".
ReplyDeleteYou're jumping to conclusions!!!! Who knows if this person is just sleeping. Maybe he's just drunk.
ReplyDeleteAldi is going to need to fence off their entrance so when they are closed access will be be more difficult
ReplyDeleteIf they don't you can count on a homeless camp back there or perhaps something more serious.
Nah, I'm sure that's just stellar developer Peter Holstein doing a concrete inspection.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if there was a big Aldi logo in the back of the picture.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's a performance art piece created by Uptown students. You know, one that wouldn't fit in the movie poster frames, er, art cases.
ReplyDeleteDo the cops even check on these people? There should be well-being checks to make sure they're not dead or something. It's not so reassuring that if I were laid out on the sidewalk in Uptown, people would probably just walk by because it's so commonplace. This should not happen! We need to enable the police to scoop these guys up and throw them into detox.
ReplyDeleteThe 20th and 23rd Districts have specially trained CARE officers. The citywide CPD trained them to address the homeless population in sensitive ways (just as other officers are designated / or trained to interact with other special interest groups in Uptown). Last year the CARE officers only worked the 1st shift (early morning) not afternoons or nights.
ReplyDeleteBut, responsibility for encouraging homeless persons to enter shelter, transitional and permanent housing care lies more with Chicago’s Dept of Human Services. They send a mobile services unit (a huge mobile home) to Uptown around 9:00 p.m. each evening to offer services and housing to the homeless. It parks near Weiss Hospital or the Broadway Salvation Army. If local shelters are filled, they offer free transport to other shelters in the city. No one ever has to sleep on the street, even in the summer. People can go to designated locations, such as the police station, to be linked to assistance. However, even on the streets there are rules, and Homeless persons must go to the mobile unit or get to the shelter before the cutoff time.
Human Services sweeps some Uptown areas with transport vans. But, homeless persons have every Constitutional right to reject housing and services and remain on the public way. Records are kept as to who sleeps in the shelters each night (like a hotel check-in). Private health and medical records are also kept on individuals serviced on the street to facilitate identifying their needs and offering housing and more services. You may not know these homeless persons, but they are generally known to the city workers and other agencies that regularly provide benefits and services to them. Some chronic persons I’ve highlighted to Human Services have rejected housing and services more than 70 times.
However, because of the high number and close geographic concentration of free public food programs and services Uptown is one of the major areas that city workers and social agencies route homeless to. (Build it and they will come)