Experience: What’s it like to be homeless in Chicago during the winter?
<div class="persona-img" style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/47c4140772f8666f414b1afdc1397c62" alt="Martha"/></div>
You’re Martha, a 40-year-old woman living in a tent city community under a Lake Shore Drive viaduct on the North Side. You have a part-time job working at the security desk at a single room occupancy hotel. You live with a long-term partner who has chronic health issues that require frequent hospital visits. Your health is stable, although you recently recovered from a pretty bad case of the flu.
When it comes to getting by in the winter, you’re most concerned about having propane for the heater in your tent. You also worry about getting to work on time and maintaining a clean, functional set of clothes for work.
[[Start Martha's journey->Scenario1A]]
<div class="persona-img" style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/b5432ae5b061951cba2c4f4a01def889" alt="Greg"/></div>
You’re Greg, a 65-year-old single man. You are diabetic and you suffer from debilitating arthritis that impacts your mobility and ability to work. You receive supplemental security income to cover basic food and medical needs. Last year, you lived in your son and daughter-in-law’s basement, but left due to mounting tension between the three of you. You’ve lived in shelters and on the streets ever since.
When it comes to getting by in the winter, you’re most concerned about making sure you eat healthy meals at regular times every day to manage your glycemic levels, and protecting your insulin supply and needles. You also worry about getting to and from the hospital regularly to pick up prescription medications for your diabetes. It’s important that you pay your monthly $40 fee to keep most of your belongings in a personal storage unit because otherwise you would struggle to transport them around.
[[Start Greg's journey->Scenario1B]]
<div class="persona-img" style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/bfab1069700bf015e5e6c87d02cdd1b8" alt="Samantha"/></div>
You’re Samantha, a 19-year-old transgender woman who recently left home for the streets after your family rejected your request to use female pronouns and recognize your chosen name. You’re enrolled in community college and are also searching for a part-time job.
When it comes to getting by in the winter, you’re most concerned about shelter options that provide privacy, attending and passing classes, and your personal safety.
[[Start Samantha's journey->Scenario1C]]
<div class="intro-img" style="text-align: center;">
<img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/47c4140772f8666f414b1afdc1397c62" alt="Martha"/><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/b5432ae5b061951cba2c4f4a01def889" alt="Greg"/><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/bfab1069700bf015e5e6c87d02cdd1b8" alt="Samantha"/>
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<div style="text-align: center">What is it like to be homeless in Chicago during the winter? We talked with folks who’ve experienced homelessness when it’s been bitterly cold outside and people who work at homeless advocacy or service organizations. From that information, we developed three “personas.” Each faces a series of everyday events that force them to make decisions about how to manage their health, relationships, and personal values. This experience aims to illustrate some of the myriad choices homeless people make on a daily basis to get by during the winter months.
Choose a persona to follow.
[[Martha, a middle-aged woman living in a tent city->Persona A]]
[[Greg, an elderly diabetic man living on federal aid->Persona B]]
[[Samantha, a trans-woman enrolled in community college->Persona C]]
</div> <div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/2057740506f94d26e1dd3a52bb56ea07" alt="Tent"/></div>
City workers are coming to clean the viaduct this morning. When the workers come (every other week, per city policy), everyone in the tent city is required to move their tents and personal belongings or risk having their stuff thrown away. It usually takes you and your partner two hours to move everything. Today, however, your partner is away at a doctor’s appointment. It's almost 9 a.m., and to get to work on time you should have left 10 minutes ago. But you still have a lot of things to pack. What do you do?
[[ • Finish moving your belongings and get to work late.->Outcome1Aa]]
[[ • Leave for work immediately and ask fellow tent city residents to finish moving your belongings.->Outcome1Ab]]<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/cd03b91897de19e5fdee3f30beb1639a" alt="Boots"/></div>
Because of all the walking you do, the soles are starting to separate from your shoes. On snowy and rainy winter days, your socks get soaked, causing you a great deal of anxiety. Because you are diabetic, you are at particular risk for developing a foot ulcer that may become infected. Ultimately, it could result in an amputation. Buying a new pair of diabetic shoes will exhaust nearly all of what remains on your supplemental security income check for the month and you still have to pay your monthly fee to keep your personal belongings in the storage unit. What do you do?
[[• Buy the new shoes and don’t immediately pay the storage bill.->Outcome1Ba]]
[[• Pay your monthly storage unit fee and forego the new shoes.->Outcome1Bb]]<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/c7b3888497a6e165b402ced06c2480d6" alt="Phone"/></div>
Your phone’s battery is low. You want to make sure it’s charged for the afternoon because you’re expecting a call regarding an interview for a part-time job. What do you do?
[[• Go to a coffee shop to charge your phone.->Outcome1Ca]]
[[• Go to the library to charge your phone.->Outcome1Cb]]<br>
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You’re able to move all of your personal items from under the viaduct before you leave, but you show up to work an hour late. You get a warning from your boss saying you’ll be fired next time.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario2A]]<br>
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You get to work on time. When you return, you see the viaduct has been cleaned and your fellow residents have moved your tent back to its spot. But a bag that you and your partner had been using to store additional donations — including two warm winter coats, gloves, heating packs and a heavy blanket — is missing. Your neighbors tell you it must have gotten lost in the shuffle of moving items from the viaduct and thrown away by city workers.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario2A]]<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/6735dcc3723f20eb373b98b6361df4e6" alt="Snowflakes"/></div>
Weather forecasts say Chicago is in for dangerously cold temperatures tonight. You’re also on the tail end of a bad flu. You and your partner lock up your tent and go to a nearby hospital waiting room, where homeless people can go when it’s cold. When you get there, hospital staff call a mobile outreach van to bring you to an overnight shelter. When the van arrives, the driver says there's a bed available for each of you, but there are no shelter options for a couple to share a room together. What do you do?
[[• Take the van to the shelter, where you and your partner will be separated. You’ll go to the women’s section and your partner will go to the men’s section. You will each spend the night in the company of strangers.->Outcome2Aa]]
[[• Despite frigid temps, you return to the tent under the viaduct. You and your partner worry about each other's safety at night and are determined to stay together. ->Outcome2Ab]]<br>
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You and your partner are separated for the night. You have a warm bed, but have difficulty sleeping because a group of women get into an argument and wake you up. You can’t get back to sleep because you are anxious about your partner’s health and have no way to communicate with him since you share a single cellphone. The next morning you and your partner are both fine, albeit sleepy.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario3A]]<br>
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The cold is hard on your body. The next day your flu, which had been getting better, has gotten worse. You have to miss three days of work.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario3A]]<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/286a1c5dd2e83c190ba17e46728f6f68" alt="PropaneTank"/></div>
The propane tank in your tent is empty and temperatures are dangerously low. You’ve saved about $10 to purchase a new one. However, your phone bill is high this month and already past due. Your boss requires you to have a working phone at all times so she can call when you are needed for unscheduled shifts. You can only afford to pay for either the phone or the tank. What do you do?
[[• Buy a new propane tank.->Outcome3Aa]]
[[• Hold off on buying the propane tank so you can pay what’s due on your phone bill.->Outcome3Ab]]<br>
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The propane tank keeps you and your ill partner warm on a particularly cold winter night. But when you wake up in the morning, you find that your phone service has been cut off. You miss a call from work to take on an extra shift.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario4A]]<br>
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Later that week, you get a call from work to fill a shift. You feel lucky you kept your phone on. However, temperatures plunge below zero that night. You and your partner huddle together in your sleeping bags. The next morning, your partner wakes up with a bad cough.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario4A]]<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/a3019d0f926eaf86d2f4acbb19be9689" alt="Keys"/></div>
Great news — after months of waiting, your case worker finds you a subsidized housing unit. You qualify for this housing because you earn some income. The housing is good for two years and you and your partner will be able to move there together. However, the unit is on the South Side and far from the CTA options you need to get to work. What do you do?
[[• Leave the tent city and take the apartment. You believe that having a stable, warm home will make it easier for your partner to manage his health condition and for you both to get back on your feet. You’ll work out a way to get to and from work each day.->Outcome4Aa]]
[[• Pass on the apartment because you don’t see how you’ll be able to get to work. You’ll continue living in the tent city.->Outcome4Ab]]<br>
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Reality sets in almost immediately after you move into the apartment and you find that getting to work and back is a two-hour ordeal on foot, bus and train each way. After showing up late for work several days, you and your partner decide to leave the apartment and return to the tent city because you’re more concerned about losing your job.
[[Continue the journey->EndMartha]]<br>
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The status quo continues. There’s no prospect of housing on the horizon and your concerns about the health of you and your partner in the winter continues.
[[Continue the journey->EndMartha]]<br>
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You’ve reached the end of Martha's journey.
[[• Restart Martha's journey->Persona A]]
[[• Follow a different persona->Introduction]]
[[• See who we talked to for this presentation->Sources]]
Who we talked to for this presentation:
• Diane O’Connell, staff attorney at the <a href="http://www.chicagohomeless.org/">Chicago Coalition for the Homeless</a>
• Mark Saulys, tent city resident and organizer with Tent City Voices Heard
• Vivien Tsou, organizer at <a href="http://onenorthside.org">ONE Northside</a>
• Bryant Cunningham, former homeless person
• WBEZ’s past reporting including:
<div style= "margin-left:3em">• <a href="https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/uptown-shelter-struggles-to-transition-last-residents-before-closing/8e040309-382c-4ad8-8406-07b7b8075372">Uptown Shelter Struggles To Transition Last Residents Before Closing</a></div><div style= "margin-left:3em">• <a href="https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/chicago-homeless-encampment-creates-enforces-its-own-rules/a750efa3-5609-4379-be51-f3e6ac5d747c">Chicago Homeless Encampment Creates, Enforces Its Own Rules</a></div><div style= "margin-left:3em">• <a href="https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/sro-tenants-gain-protections/4c955cbe-84c3-48a3-be8c-761d6324d09c">SRO Tenants Gain Protections</a></div><div style= "margin-left:3em">• <a href="https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/counting-chicagos-homeless-population/60f8c2a7-0689-47bb-8784-015e6728ac54">Counting Chicago’s Homeless Population</a></div>
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Your feet are much more comfortable in your new shoes. However, you miss the monthly payment on your storage unit. Before you’re able to pay the late fee and bill for the new month, you find that the items were auctioned off by the storage unit company.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario2B]]<br>
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The items in your storage unit remain safe. But you continue to fret over keeping your feet dry and clean. You purchase a few pairs of socks to swap out when your shoes soak through and some duct tape to seal up your shoes as best you can. If you don’t find a way to buy shoes soon, you’ll be at an increased risk for an infection.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario2B]]<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/6735dcc3723f20eb373b98b6361df4e6" alt="Snowflakes"/></div>
It's Friday. The weather forecast indicates that temperatures will be dangerously cold tonight and through the weekend. You got to the shelter you normally frequent late and no spots were left. What do you do?
[[• Pay $55 to stay in a single-room occupancy hotel for the night.->Outcome2Ba]]
[[• Spend the night on the Red Line, knowing you’ll have to switch directions every hour and a half to evade CTA security personnel.->Outcome2Bb]]<br>
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Very few single-room occupancies hotels allow people to stay just a single night — most require weekly or monthly stays. But, you get lucky and find an overnight facility with an available room. It does not have an elevator, so going up the flights of stairs to your room is a painful challenge because of your arthritic knees.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario3B]]<br>
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You settle yourself in the corner seat and use your coat as a blanket. You doze off and wake up at the end of the line. You find that while you were sleeping, your insulin needles were stolen.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario3B]]<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/49d2f199ec8b07dfe0901decd726b6ab" alt="Clock"/></div>
It’s Monday morning and very cold outside. You have ten hours to kill before the closest shelter opens its doors for the night. How do you spend them?
[[• Head to a nearby coffee shop and nurse a hot drink for a few hours.->Outcome3Ba]]
[[• Head to the library. As long as you don’t fall asleep there, you should be fine for the day.->Outcome3Bb]]<br>
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You have to spend $3 on a drink but are able to spend the majority of the day in a warm place. Sometimes workers harass you for staying so long at the coffee shop, but the staff on duty today are friendly.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario4Ba]]<br>
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You fall asleep at the library and when you wake up, you discover you missed the window of time that your shelter normally allows people re-entry for the night.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario4Bb]]<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/ba97f6636f3030d129b127c15e49f627" alt="Beds"/></div>
Now it’s evening, so you head to the shelter where you normally sleep. You are glad to have a mat to sleep on and access to showers, even though fellow residents sometimes break out into loud fights at night. Today, staff at the shelter inform you that you may only stay for dinner if you attend the religious service they’re holding before it. You need to receive regular meals to manage your glycemic levels. But you are uncomfortable with this requirement. What do you do?
[[• Stay and participate in the services despite your contradicting beliefs.->Outcome4Ba]]
[[• Call your son and ask to stay in his basement for a while.->Outcome4Bb]]<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/ba97f6636f3030d129b127c15e49f627" alt="Beds"/></div>
Because you missed the window of time your shelter normally allows re-entry for the night, you have to find an alternative place to stay. You go to a nearby police station, which doubles as a warming center, where people may sit in a waiting room to get out of the cold. When you arrive, staff call a mobile outreach van to take you to a different shelter for the night. You are glad to have a mat to sleep on and access to showers, even though fellow residents often break out into loud fights at night. The next day staff at the shelter inform you that you may only stay for meals if you attend the religious service they’re holding before it. You need to receive regular meals to manage your glycemic levels. But you are uncomfortable with this requirement. What do you do?
[[• Stay and participate in the services despite your contradicting beliefs.->Outcome4Ba]]
[[• Call your son and ask to stay in his basement for a while.->Outcome4Bb]]<br>
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You stay at the shelter for the meals you need to keep your blood sugar levels properly regulated. But you are frustrated that you have to participate in the religious activities.
[[Continue the journey->EndGreg]]<br>
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Your son tells you that you can stay. When you arrive, your daughter-in-law asks that you chip in some of your supplemental security income money for food. In order to avoid conflict, and to acknowledge their kindness, you give her some cash. But you’re low on money and worry you won’t be able to buy a CTA card next week, which is essential to go to doctors' appointments and pick up medications. After a week, you decide to head back to the streets.
[[Continue the journey->EndGreg]]<br>
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You’ve reached the end of Greg's journey.
[[• Restart Greg's journey->Persona B]]
[[• Follow a different persona->Introduction]]
[[• See who we talked to for this presentation->Sources]]
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You get kicked out after an hour because you don’t have cash to purchase anything. You panhandle to get a few dollars to buy a coffee. You're able to charge your phone just in time to get the call about the part-time job.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario2C]]<br>
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You plug your phone into an outlet but fall asleep while waiting for it to charge. You miss your call and are kicked out of the library for sleeping.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario2C]]<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/ba97f6636f3030d129b127c15e49f627" alt="Beds"/></div>
It’s now early evening, and the overnight shelter for homeless youth you were hoping to in is already full. You’ve been told beds are available at another youth shelter, but you worry you won’t get there before the doors close. What do you do?
[[• Trek over to the shelter and hope you make it in time.->Outcome2Ca]]
[[• Call up a friend and ask to stay over. You can hear lots of noise in the background; she’s clearly hosting a party. Nevertheless, she tells you to come over.->Outcome2Cb]]<br>
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You have enough money to take a CTA train to the closest stop near the shelter, which is still a mile away on foot. You run most of the way and barely make it before they close their doors for the night.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario3C]]<br>
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You make it over to your friend’s place where things are rowdy. You’re exhausted and just want to sleep. You doze off as best you can in a corner of her bedroom, but you’re repeatedly awoken by the noise and by people barging in.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario3C]]<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/49d2f199ec8b07dfe0901decd726b6ab" alt="Clock"/></div>
It’s Wednesday, the day when you have night class this semester. Attending means you won’t be able to get in line early for a bed at the youth shelter where you normally sleep. What do you do?
[[• Attend class and take the risk of not having warm shelter for the night.->Outcome3Ca]]
[[• Skip class to wait in line for a bed.->Outcome3Cb]]<br>
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The shelter fills up by the time you finish class. You head over to a viaduct beneath Lake Shore Drive, where you ask homeless people there to lend you a tent. They set you up with a tent and some blankets for the night, but you barely sleep because it’s freezing cold.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario4C]]<br>
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You manage to secure a bed, but because you’ve had a history of poor attendance, you flunk the class.
[[Continue the journey->Scenario4C]]<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/d687fa1554138f1b5cc9692fa3ad7cde" alt="Books"/></div>
Semester exams are coming up, and you’re worried about getting your studying done with all the noise and lack of privacy at the youth shelter. You think about calling your ex-boyfriend since he has his own apartment, but you worry he’ll expect sexual favors if he lets you stay. What do you do?
[[• Call up your ex-boyfriend and ask if you can stay with him during exam week. ->Outcome4Ca]]
[[• You’d rather avoid getting back together with your ex if possible. You head to study at a nearby coffee shop that you know stays open late.->Outcome4Cb]]<br>
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Your ex-boyfriend tells you he will come pick you up. You end up doing sexual favors you’re not comfortable with, but he gives you the time and space to prepare for your exams. He also drives you to and from campus in his car, which cuts your normal commute time.
[[Continue the journey->EndSamantha]]<br>
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You buy the cheapest coffee on the menu and choose a corner where the staff seems least likely to bother you. You finish studying and leave at midnight when the cafe closes. Because it’s so late, you have no place to stay but the streets.
[[Continue the journey->EndSamantha]]<br>
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You’ve reached the end of Samantha's journey.
[[• Restart Samantha's journey->Persona C]]
[[• Follow a different persona->Introduction]]
[[• See who we talked to for this presentation->Sources]] <h2>Out in the Cold</h2><h4>What's it like to be homeless in Chicago during the winter?</h4><div class="intro-img" style="text-align: center;">
<img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/2057740506f94d26e1dd3a52bb56ea07" alt="Tent"/><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/ccfd16844b6e36d55fe7502fed42e7b1" alt="CTA"/><img src="https://cdn.wbez.org/image/ba97f6636f3030d129b127c15e49f627" alt="Beds"/>
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<div class="ButtonWrapper">[[Begin->Introduction]]</div>
<h3>A production of WBEZ's <a href="http://curiouscity.wbez.org/">Curious City</a>, and a response to a question posed by Jake Riley.
Our characters are imaginary, but are based in research and interviews.</h3> <hr><div text align="center">Reported by Odette Yousef
Produced by Katherine Nagasawa and Maggie Sivit</div>