Chicago homeless camp closes before Democratic convention

Chicago officials have shut down a homeless encampment ahead of the Democratic National Convention.

The tents are gone from the site off the Dan Ryan Expressway south of Roosevelt Road. The people who lived there have been offered housing until Aug. 31 in a former hotel on the Near North Side.

Patricia Nix-Hodes, of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, said it is critical that the city provide permanent homes for the people who were moved.

"People shouldn’t be displaced for any major event without being offered housing," Nix-Hodes said.

Nix-Hodes also said the encampment area should not be shut down permanently.

"Unfortunately, people become homeless every day, so there will be other people who need that space when they have no place else to go," Nix-Hodes explained.

City workers have also been clearing an encampment farther south near the Dan Ryan, along Canalport Avenue.

Chicago Department of Family and Support Services Brandie Knazze said the City is acting proactively ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which is scheduled from August 19th through the 22nd.

The primary event centers for the convention are the United Center on the Near West Side and McCormick Place in the South Loop.

The homeless encampments are visibly located between the two main convention sites.

Knazze said the City plans to keep the homeless site near the Ryan Expressway and Roosevelt Road closed permanently.

Nix-Hodes said this location is a longtime spot for people who have no place else to stay.

"We don’t have enough affordable housing in the city. The shelter system has been over capacity, so people do need a place to go when they can’t find another place to go," Nix-Hodes said.

Commissioner Knazze said the City gave notice to the people in the homeless encampment near Roosevelt Road in June.

Nix-Hodes said her understanding is that outreach workers did visit the camp before the site was cleared.

Nix-Hodes said the encampment site should reopen, even if it is no longer needed for the people who are now being displaced.

"We don’t want to deprive people in the future who may become homeless from having that location, so that’s an important piece of this," Nix-Hodes added.

Nix-Hodes said it is important to think about what happens beyond the convention.

Earlier this year, the City reported a total of more than 18,000 homeless people within Chicago's boundaries.