Chicago removing homeless encampment ahead of Democratic National Convention

CHICAGO (AP) — Homeless people who have been living in one of Chicago’s largest and most visible encampments will be relocated to a shelter by next week so the area will be emptied before the Democratic National Convention in August, a city official said Friday.

The encampment is along Interstate 90 just southwest of the city center, an area that’s a main thoroughfare between the two sites where the Democratic convention will be held starting Aug. 19.

The encampment will be emptied and permanently roped off on Wednesday, Chicago Department of Family and Support Services Commissioner Brandie Knazze said Friday.

The 29 people staying there were told in June, Knazze said. As of Friday, only six remained, she said. They were being relocated to a city-run shelter in a former hotel that also once housed Ditka’s restaurant. It was converted into a homeless shelter last year.

“This is really a part of our unsheltered strategy,” Knazze said. “Our goal is to be thoughtful, be trauma informed and help people along their journey.”

Knazze said that the city was moving the people now because they assumed federal authorities would require them to do it later for security reasons.

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“We don’t want to wait and be told the week before or the week of,” she said. “This is really about getting people inside.”

After the convention, the city will be working with the relocated people to find them housing or other shelter placement, Knazze said.

“It’s very critically important if people are being forced to move due to the DNC or any major event that they be connected to permanent housing,” said Patricia Nix-Hodes, director of the Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

It’s also imperative that the site remain available in the future for people who don’t have housing, she said.

The number of homeless people in Chicago in January was three times as high as in 2023, according to a city tally. There were more than 18,800 homeless people in the city in January 2024 compared with about 6,100 the year before.

Chicago has reported more than 44,000 migrants arriving since 2022. The city began enforcing a 60-day limit on shelter stays in mid-March.

The city has reported 1,411 people leaving shelters so far because of the caps. As of Thursday evening, the city said more than 17,000 people have found other housing since officials began keeping data in 2022.

In March, voters rejected a one-time real estate tax on properties over $1 million to pay for services for homeless people.

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Associated Press video journalist Teresa Crawford contributed to this report.