15/07/2005
stampa
invia
For some months, in a corner of the park that’s behind his house in a well off
quarter of South Chicago Mark Logan sees two familiar faces everyday. A homeless
couple of 35-40 years old live there in the open, but far enough away from the
eyes of the police. The two, regularly appear there half way through the spring
and then disappear when the first cold spell arrives. But now they are not the
only homeless in this quarter: in this neighbourhood there are other people that
sleep here, 5 years ago you wouldn’t have seen this. This situation is much the
same in other quarters of Chicago: since 2000 the metropolis of Illinois, already
known by many as the capital of homeless people, has had an explosion in the number
of people living on the streets. Official figures confirm this, they speak of
35% rise in the number of homeless since last year. But it’s enough to take a
walk around to realise the number of people without a fixed abode is much more
evident here than in other big American cities.
An invisible army. “Tonight in Chicago, there are 15 thousand homeless people that live in abandoned buildings,
on the streets, or in public hostels,” maintains Ed Shurna, Director of Chicago
Coalition for the Homeless, an association that fights to lessen this phenomenon.
This fight is well known by all the organisations in this sector, as well as the
public bodies that are concerned with social housing in Chicago. But the problem
is getting worse and involves more than 15 thousand people, explains Shurna, “One
Federal Government study calculated that every year in Chicago, and its’ peripheral
areas, 165 thousand people, -out of a population of 9 million-, will become homeless.
Sure, many of these will be only for a few months, then I imagine that they will
find work and pull themselves out of this situation. Nevertheless, in 1999, there
were four emergency hostels for families and, today, there are fifteen, you can
understand that the situation could explode.”
Poorer and Poorer. According to official figures, three out of four homeless people in Chicago are
Afro-America, while only 13% are white, and 9% are of Hispanic origin. “People
like to think that homeless people are all mentally sick or alcohol or drug dependent,”
explains Wayne Richard, an ex-homeless person that helps out at a hostel, “but
in reality the main reason for ending up living on the streets is poverty. Then,
for sure, frustration and the absence of any way out of the situation can lead
people to abuse alcohol or drugs.” Workers in this sector agree that the fact
that cuts in welfare, made by the Bush administration, and the transformation
of the economy have contributed to the crisis. “Prevention programmes don’t work
like they use to, –explains Shurna-, the security net which had basic funding
is getting more and more holes in it. Service industries pay less than traditional
industries. At the weekly food distribution you can now see people that once would
have been considered middle class, people that have left senior school with qualifications,
and who can now only dream of buying themselves a house.”
Less social housing. In the third largest city in America there are two other factors that heighten
the problem. The loss of thousands of jobs after the bubble of the new economy
burst and, the Ten year Plan of transformation declared by Chicago’s Mayor Richard
Daley and helped by Washington. The new line is: demolish social housing and offer
subsidies to those in economic difficulty so they can rent housing. One of the
consequences of this was the immediate rise in the number of homeless, especially
those which are the most vulnerable. “In the last six years they have knocked
down 19 thousand apartments whilst only building 1,300” -says Shurna-“and the
majority of people living in social housing are women and children.” Brady Harden,
who as Director of the association Inner Voice is involved in the management of
28 of the 150 hostels in Chicago, he confirms that, “Only a few years ago we ran
three emergency centres. Now there are eight. And out of the 600 people that we
give help to around 200 are children.”
stampainvia
The number of homeless people is on the rise. Yet the money to house them is on the fall
from our correspondent
Alessandro Ursic
Alessandro Ursic
For some months, in a corner of the park that’s behind his house in a well off
quarter of South Chicago Mark Logan sees two familiar faces everyday. A homeless
couple of 35-40 years old live there in the open, but far enough away from the
eyes of the police. The two, regularly appear there half way through the spring
and then disappear when the first cold spell arrives. But now they are not the
only homeless in this quarter: in this neighbourhood there are other people that
sleep here, 5 years ago you wouldn’t have seen this. This situation is much the
same in other quarters of Chicago: since 2000 the metropolis of Illinois, already
known by many as the capital of homeless people, has had an explosion in the number
of people living on the streets. Official figures confirm this, they speak of
35% rise in the number of homeless since last year. But it’s enough to take a
walk around to realise the number of people without a fixed abode is much more
evident here than in other big American cities.An invisible army. “Tonight in Chicago, there are 15 thousand homeless people that live in abandoned buildings,
on the streets, or in public hostels,” maintains Ed Shurna, Director of Chicago
Coalition for the Homeless, an association that fights to lessen this phenomenon.
This fight is well known by all the organisations in this sector, as well as the
public bodies that are concerned with social housing in Chicago. But the problem
is getting worse and involves more than 15 thousand people, explains Shurna, “One
Federal Government study calculated that every year in Chicago, and its’ peripheral
areas, 165 thousand people, -out of a population of 9 million-, will become homeless.
Sure, many of these will be only for a few months, then I imagine that they will
find work and pull themselves out of this situation. Nevertheless, in 1999, there
were four emergency hostels for families and, today, there are fifteen, you can
understand that the situation could explode.”Poorer and Poorer. According to official figures, three out of four homeless people in Chicago are
Afro-America, while only 13% are white, and 9% are of Hispanic origin. “People
like to think that homeless people are all mentally sick or alcohol or drug dependent,”
explains Wayne Richard, an ex-homeless person that helps out at a hostel, “but
in reality the main reason for ending up living on the streets is poverty. Then,
for sure, frustration and the absence of any way out of the situation can lead
people to abuse alcohol or drugs.” Workers in this sector agree that the fact
that cuts in welfare, made by the Bush administration, and the transformation
of the economy have contributed to the crisis. “Prevention programmes don’t work
like they use to, –explains Shurna-, the security net which had basic funding
is getting more and more holes in it. Service industries pay less than traditional
industries. At the weekly food distribution you can now see people that once would
have been considered middle class, people that have left senior school with qualifications,
and who can now only dream of buying themselves a house.”Less social housing. In the third largest city in America there are two other factors that heighten
the problem. The loss of thousands of jobs after the bubble of the new economy
burst and, the Ten year Plan of transformation declared by Chicago’s Mayor Richard
Daley and helped by Washington. The new line is: demolish social housing and offer
subsidies to those in economic difficulty so they can rent housing. One of the
consequences of this was the immediate rise in the number of homeless, especially
those which are the most vulnerable. “In the last six years they have knocked
down 19 thousand apartments whilst only building 1,300” -says Shurna-“and the
majority of people living in social housing are women and children.” Brady Harden,
who as Director of the association Inner Voice is involved in the management of
28 of the 150 hostels in Chicago, he confirms that, “Only a few years ago we ran
three emergency centres. Now there are eight. And out of the 600 people that we
give help to around 200 are children.” Other cuts on the horizon. But why in New York, for example, do you see less homeless people on the streets?
According to Shurna, the reason is look at the differing attitudes of the civil
authorities. “With double the population of Chicago, New York gives 5 times more
money to homelessness than Chicago.” The situation in Chicago could worsen very
quickly. From the 1st of July, due to State and Federal cuts, the city’s budget for hostels will fall
from $17million dollars to $15.2 million dollars a year. You can say that there
will be less bed spaces. The city council has looked to reassure associations
for the homeless by saying that funding will come from other sources. But workers
in the sector are under no illusion. “We still don’t know where these people will
sleep,” says Shurna. “They tells us that there are other beds, but we don’t know
where they are.”
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