Daley combats Chicago homelessness

Daley outlined the actions Chicago is taking to reduce the threat of increased homelessness due to the recession at a press conference at the Westin Hotel on Wednesday.

“Chicago and America, in this great recession, have to do a much better job in regards to helping the less fortunate,” said Mayor Richard Daley. “The less fortunate are growing because of the economic crisis.”

Approximately 5,000 Chicago residents are homeless, or about .17 percent of all Chicago residents. In 2009, 884 people were living on the street, about 35 percent fewer than in 2003.

“Everyone needs to realize that this is a serious, serious recession and it’s not going to get better,” Daley said. “Everyone has to be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.”

To combat homelessness, Daley plans on using $1.4 million from the parking meter reserve, which he referred to as “a rainy day fund.” About $700,000 will be used to increase the capacity at homelessness shelters, and an additional $700,000 will be used to support Chicago’s 2003 Plan to End Homelessness, a system designed to get and keep people off the streets.

According to Daley, the core principles of the Plan to End Homelessness are prevention, establishing housing, providing services to keep people from losing their homes, and putting the homeless on a path to a better life.

“It’s time to support those that need our help,” Daley said.

Despite the economic condition, the city is making progress in its mission to reduce the number of homeless residents, according to Nancy Radner, CEO of Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness.

With a program called Street to Home, the city moves homeless people living on the streets to housing provided by the government. Since the program began in 2003, the count of homeless residents is down.

“What that says is that our plan has been working,” said Radner. “However, we see a crisis looming, and we don’t want to pat ourselves on the back yet because we just don’t know what the next year will bring. Homelessness is a delayed response to the bad economy.”

Dorothy Yancy, a formerly homeless resident of Chicago, said she believes the program is a positive response to the problem of homelessness.

“Today, I have my own apartment,” Yancy said. “I’m proud to be a part of the Chicago Alliance. If it hadn’t been for people like Nancy Radner helping me out and having faith in me, I don’t know what I would have done.”