Across the nation, homelessness is being met with cruelty instead of compassion. From a deadly encampment sweep in Atlanta to laws in Fremont, California, that criminalize kindness itself, to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling allowing cities to punish people for sleeping in public — leaders are choosing punishment over progress.
The evidence is clear: Criminalizing homelessness does not end homelessness. It only uproots people from their support networks and makes stability more challenging. Chicagoans like to think, “It can’t happen here.” As a progressive city in a progressive state, we believe we do better.
And yet, homelessness in Chicago has risen by over 200%, with encampment closures in places like Humboldt Park and Gompers Park displacing residents, some with no path to housing.
As we watch the failures of criminalization play out across the country, we have a choice to make. Will we follow the same ineffective, harmful path, or will we chart a new course rooted in evidence-based solutions, dignity and justice?
The answer is not a mystery. We know what works. The “Housing First” strategy works. When people have stable housing, they can rebuild their lives — address their health, find work and reconnect with their communities. Study after study proves that Housing First keeps people housed, reduces emergency service use and saves cities money.
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Yet in Chicago, only 29% of available beds are permanent supportive housing. That is not a system designed to end homelessness.
Some argue encampment sweeps are necessary for public order. But whose order? Whose safety? A society that treats its most vulnerable as problems to be erased rather than people to be helped is in moral decline.
Chicago has the chance to lead. But leadership requires action. It requires political will. It requires cross-sector collaboration. It requires investment in deeply affordable housing, permanent supportive housing, in robust services that meet people where they are. Most of all, it requires listening.
People experiencing homelessness are not statistics. They are our neighbors, our fellow Chicagoans and they must have a voice in shaping the policies that affect their lives.
The nation is watching. The choice before us is clear. Will we follow the same path, or will we build something new? The time to decide is now.
Shiloh Capone, executive director, Street Samaritans
Sad chapter in American history
Will the diversity, equity and inclusion books purged from the U.S. Naval Academy library and the thousands of other titles that have been ordered removed from public school libraries in parts of the country be gathered together and burned on one of Donald Trump’s properties, as was done in Nazi Germany and Austria in the 1930s?
It’s another unfortunate step.
Dwain Thomas, River North