![]() ![]() The slow dispersal of federal money has stalled the launch of some new homelessness programs and pinched the budgets of some nonprofits looking for quicker payments. The city’s recovery plan devotes $117 million to a range of homelessness support services. Other federal dollars the city received have a deadline of 2030. ![]() Municipalities that received pandemic recovery funds must create a plan to use them by the end of 2024 and spend the funds for that plan by the end of 2026, according to the Chicago Recovery Plan. Though the city continues to expel people experiencing homelessness from its airports, underpasses and L cars, it has spent at most only 15% out of one of the largest pots of federal money it was given for programs to help people experiencing homelessness get into housing faster, according to the city. The city has budgeted more than $200 million this year to provide services for people like David who are experiencing homelessness, with much of that money coming from federal pandemic relief aid.īut what the city’s homelessness support system has actually spent so far tells a different story. ![]() (Credit: Victor Hilitski/For Illinois Answers Project) “So, I don’t know if they can say, ‘You got to get the f- out of here.’ Like, at least help us with housing or something.” A sign posted on a pillar informs the people living in an encampment under the Kennedy Expressway at California that the area will soon be cleaned, making them fear they will lose their possessions. “This is kind of like my dwelling, I live here … it’s pretty much my house,” David said. Still, it wasn’t long before the city came through, with workers slapping green signs on tents and nearby concrete pillars, warning of an upcoming “cleaning” that could see David’s belongings, along with those of his friends and about five others, tossed in the garbage. Only recently has he stayed longer in an encampment in Avondale on the Northwest Side when he made a friend. So David, who asked that his last name not be used, usually has stayed on the move, fearing his tent and belongings could be next. Calling himself a “nomad,” David, 35, has been without housing for five years and witnessed how people like him are treated on the streets - their tents burned, slashed or thrown away. ![]()
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