THE U.S. SUPREME COURT, in its most significant decision on homelessness in decades, ruled on June 28 that cities can ban people from sleeping and also camping in public places. In a 6-3 decision, justices overturned lower court rulings in the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, that deemed it cruel and unusual, under the Eighth Amendment, to essentially punish people who have nowhere else to go for sleeping outside. Indeed only a month later, in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday July 25, ordered state officials to begin removing thousands of homeless encampments across the state.
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor—joined by Justice Elana Kagan and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson—wrote: “Sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime. For some people, sleeping outside is their only option. The City of Grants Pass jails and fines those people for sleeping anywhere in public at any time, including in their cars, if they use as little as a blanket to keep warm or a rolled-up shirt as a pillow. For people with no access to shelter, that punishes them for being homeless. That is unconscionable and unconstitutional. Punishing people for their status is 'cruel and unusual' under the Eighth Amendment.”
The Supreme Court’s decision essentially criminalizing homelessness exacerbates an already dire situation for those who find themselves houseless in America. And the case only highlights the critical importance of this project exploring on the front lines, even in Chicago, what happens when the city turns cold, leaving thousands seeking shelter from winter’s bitter life-threatening elements, although summer heat can be just as brutal, even lethal.
AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF the national migrant crisis, increasing poverty and the lingering misperception of homelessness in America as being mostly a portrait of indigent men, we examined homelessness in Chicago this spring semester. The objective for a team of Roosevelt University journalism students enrolled in the capstone multimedia project course over 15 weeks was to take a literary and microscopic look at homelessness during the most brutal months of the year here: Winter. Using the traditional approach of public affairs reporting, we took to the streets, where the homeless often dwell in the shadows of downtown skyscrapers on lower Wacker Drive on icy nights, in tent shelters in city parks, outside and inside police stations or beneath viaducts or downtown Chicago streets, where they cower beneath blankets in the darkened doorways of buildings in an effort to seek shelter from the wind.
Our reporting took us into the streets and beyond, to church, food pantries and homeless shelters. It led us to speak with experts and also volunteers on the front lines who say they are seeing a burgeoning number of middle-class families turning to them for help, adding that increasingly the face of homelessness is a child. Included in our report is a snapshot of homelessness from Los Angeles, California to Jacksonville, Florida, and a special report from Kansas City, Missouri.
The work appears as a multimedia project with abbreviated stories published in their entirety online at the Unforgotten Bureau (for Social Justice Journalism at FountainWorks), an independent not-for-profit founded by John W. Fountain and dedicated to the stories and voices of those whose stories are under-told or altogether missing in mainstream news media.
IN ADDITION TO THE written narrative, we also sought to document through the use of digital media, the voices and faces of those most affected and those working on the front lines to help the unhoused and combat hunger, seeking to provide a lifeline. Our project, presented here in an abridged version, takes the form of written narratives as well as videos and photos in a multimedia project as we seek to document this critical American story. To spark thought and public discourse, and also to engaged as citizens and experiential learners while embracing the social justice mission of Roosevelt University.
Winter has passed now, dissolved into the winds of summer. But it will soon come again and with it the need to resolve if not remedy the issue of what happens to the houseless and indigent each season when the city turns cold. -Professor John W. Fountain (Also, see commentary by John W. Fountain: 'To Father Pfleger On Protests For The Homeless: Don't Shut Up'
'Across downtown, there is the sight of people begging for food. Of families bunched beneath layers of clothing in hopes of keeping their children warm. The sight of tiny hands and feet bundled up. The face of a child...' A Story By Grace Beyer
"My assignment this spring semester was to cover homelessness as a student-journalist at Roosevelt University. To help readers see what happens to the poor and unhoused when the city turns cold. To show rather than tell. As a journalist, I do my best to allow the information, rather than my own emotions, to be the guiding force in my stories. Still, I believe that emotions can effectively show the story, and that “feeling” sometimes is the closest way to understanding. But even reporters are human. And sometimes, some stories tug at your heart, even when you are unsuspecting..." A Perspective By Matthew Johnson
'With an estimated 60,000 people experiencing poverty-level living conditions, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and a lack of affordable housing, Chicago’s face of homelessness holds an apparently increasing demographic: families, students and children...' A Story By Paulina Czupryna
'As they huddle together on the sidewalk, seeking refuge, the indifference of passersby is palpable. Most simply avert their gaze, too engrossed in their lives to spare a moment of empathy. For them, the plight of the homeless is an inconvenient truth, easily brushed aside in the pursuit of their aspirations. It's a sobering realization...' An Essay By Erin Hayes
At The Faith Community of St. Sabina in Chicago, the church distributed tens of thousands of dollars in food, clothing and other assistance amid the growing crisis of the unhoused.
The crisis of the unhoused and how to effectively deal with continues to raise concerns across from Chicago to Florida to California, where according to a recent report by the Public Policy Institute of California, the total number of people experiencing homelessness in 2023 rose to nearly 185,000.
With Chicago’s ongoing migrant crisis, Casa Esperanza is among many organizations in Chicago working to provide support to house, feed, and clothe those most in need.
“I don’t know if Casa is necessarily doing a lot to help the migrants, I think we are doing what we are able to do,” said Elaine Seaton, Casa’s executive director. “I feel like it would be a disservice to bring someone in a space where they could not engage with other residents or staff could not engage with them. We’re willing to help anyone.” A Story By Erica Hayden
The Pilsen Food Pantry holds hours almost daily to help families, immigrants and others who need additional support in what for many today is a struggling economy. The pantry, founded by the Figueroa Wu Family Foundation in 2018, promotes a mission reflecting a variety of anti-poverty services to communities whose needs are unmet. With help from the Greater Chicago Food Depository, The Pilsen Food Pantry provides additional resources and services to assist those in need..." A Story By Paulina Czupryna
Protestors demand financial help for the homeless from the federal government.
Across Chicago and in other big cities across America, tents as dwelling places for the unhoused continue to spring up.
According to the city of Chicago, 68,440 people experienced homelessness in 2021—an increase of 2,829 people from the year prior.
Facing The Crisis In Chicago
By Grace Beyer—LINES. SLEEPY CHILDREN. SLEEPY children. Fewer meals on the table than necessary to satisfy the need. Much fewer than those who have assembled inside a South Side Catholic church this early Wednesday winter’s morning. Tiny eyes peer up at their parents. Grip their hands. Rest their heads on weary shoulders. Children and their parents observe the strangers around them—strangers who, in a sense, appear no different from them.
And yet, the difference among many of those who gathered at the Faith Community of St. Sabina, even if not immediately clear, is that they now find themselves homeless in a city where signs of a widening crisis have become undeniable and glaring: People begging for coins. Tent cities. Cardboard signs stained with pleading words for help.
Brothers and sisters curled up along the streets within this concrete city that stretches for miles and miles. Women and children begging for crumbs. People searching for the next meal. The next mattress. The next roof. Fighting for life and breath. All of these are reminders of a hidden side of Chicago—perhaps a side that some people might not want others to see, or perhaps a side that many people don’t see at all.
But for many observers, analysts and activists here, the homelessness crisis in Chicago has become as unignorable as the city’s skyline. According to a report by the city of Chicago, 68,440 people experienced homelessness in 2021—an increase of 2,829 people from the year prior. READ FULL STORY
Demanding Federal Dollars To Fix Chicago's Homelessness Crisis
Chicago Church Provides Food, Clothing And A Hand Up To All In Need
Volunteers Lend A Hand To RU's Food Pantry
RU's STUDENT PANTRY MEETS GROWING NEED
By Paulina Czupryna—ON THE THIRD FLOOR of Roosevelt’s Wabash building, the Laker Union holds a spot for students to socialize, play games and study. But in the corner of the Union lies a small “office-like” space, the perimeter of the walls surrounded by shelves stocked with food and hygiene options. With a sign labeled “Roosevelt Food and Hygiene Pantry Hours” highlighted above, Roosevelt’s popular pantry stands in recognition of the growing needs of university students.
Operated by an organization and a newly hired pantry director, Roosevelt’s pantry holds options such as cereal, powdered milk, canned vegetables, sanitary napkins, tampons, detergent and other products one many need but cannot support. The pantry, although not new, has undergone reconstruction this year, noting the need for initiatives toward student food and hygiene insecurity amid the reality that some students are experiencing financial struggles that prevent them from purchasing necessary groceries, hygiene products and academic materials.
With major success within its first semester under new leadership, Larniecia Smith, Roosevelt’s AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America liaison working with the Office of Student Experiences and Intercultural Experiences (SEIE), sets milestones for the future of Roosevelt’s pantry. Smith, a Chicago native, earned her bachelor’s in acting from Columbia College, continug her education at Antioch University, where she earned an MBA aster of Business Administration with a concentration in nonprofit leadership. Her nonprofit business background landed her a position at AmeriCorps, a federal agency focusing on civil service. Smith’s passions for advancing education, allocating housing and food security along with maintaining a hunger-free campus create recognizable effects on university students.
Smith is well-suited for leading the initiative that seeks to answer an apparent growing need among students. Placed in an area centered around engagement, the pantry’s location is accessible to all Roosevelt students and faculty. Smith found the new space vital in ditching the “stigma associated with visiting the pantry...” READ FULL STORY
A House of Hope For Women and Their Children
By Erica Hayden—INSIDE THIS TWO-STORY brick South Side house of hopes, beams of sunshine blanket the roof. A common room is laden with clothes within bags, containers, and on a nearby folding table. Children’s toys—from stuffed animals to small toy metal cars—lie in a pile.
This was the scene recently at Casa Esperanza, a non-profit organization established in October 1994, by the Society of Helpers. Its mission: To help migrant women and families transition out of poverty and find long-term housing. For the last 30 years, organizers say, Casa Esperanza has sought to fulfill its mission to help others get on the right track. Among its programs are parenting classes, resume workshops, psychotherapy, and monthly financial literary workshops (for women and the youth). It also offers an afterschool program Monday through Thursday, as well as a monthly partnership program with US Bank that teaches people how to open a savings/checking account, mortgages, and manage credit.
Women and families are free to stay at Casa for two years, but, the long-term goal is to find a permanent home for themselves. Casa Esperanza conducts initial interviews to get a sense of the individual seeking help, and to uncover a participant’s strengths, weaknesses, and the kinds of services each individual might need specifically. With Chicago’s ongoing migrant crisis, Casa Esperanza is among many organizations in Chicago working to provide support to house, feed, and clothe those most in need. READ FULL STORY
Seeing Beneath The Surface
By Matthew Johnson—A STUDENT-JOURNALIST THIS past winter, I stepped foot into a realm that is ignored yet recognized. As I stepped out of my comfort zone, I kept in mind the value of this journey. My assignment this spring semester was to cover the homelessness crisis as a student-journalist at Roosevelt University. To take readers on my journey with imagery, and context to explain what happens to the unhoused when the city turns cold.
As a journalist, it is my obligation to allow the information, rather than my emotions, direct my stories.
Still, I believe that emotions play a crucial role in stories, as they allow the reader to not only see, but feel, which is effective in understanding.But it was not until I had met two new people, that I realized how much I lacked knowledge of the homelessness crisis. READ MORE...