Tent City in Touhy Park Dismantled, Homeless Shelter Approved
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As reported in Block Club Chicago, the last remnants of the Tent City that had taken over Touhy Park on Clark Street were dismantled and removed at the end of March. Block Club also reports that a 72-bed men’s homeless shelter has been approved at 7464 N. Clark Street.
The shelter will not include a proposed drop-in center which some feared would act as a homeless magnet.
Tent City had become one of Rogers Park’s most contentious issues and was widely viewed as an Achilles heel to the reelection efforts of Alderwoman Maria Hadden. As reported in Block Club, as many as 84 people had been living in the Tent City before it was dismantled. It is perhaps not a coincidence that efforts to remove the encampment accelerated this past winter, in advance of the general election held on February 28. Block Club reports that there were just two residents still camping in the park in February, a sharp reduction from the previous months and years since the encampment first took holding during the pandemic.
Regardless of timing or political expediency, most residents of Rogers Park are breathing a sigh of relief now that the encampment is gone and the park is being restored. The goal is for the park to be ready for Park District spring programing by early April.
It is perhaps not a coincidence that efforts to remove the encampment accelerated this past winter, in advance of the general election held on February 28.
The homeless shelter on Clark Street was also highly controversial. While there is a general recognition that the homeless need to be given permanent housing alternatives to living on the street, many neighborhood residents objected to the Clark Street location which is so close to Touhy Park, fearing that is would aggravate the homeless problem the area was already experiencing.
Residents can at least take some comfort from the fact that the shelter will not include a proposed drop-in center which some feared would act as a homeless magnet, bringing more crime to the area and adding pressures at the nearby Tent City in Touhy Park. With Tent City now dismantled, some of these concerns have subsided.
The new shelter is expected to open in June and will be operated by well regarded North Side Housing. Block Club reports that the shelter will contain a “72-bed shelter with 18 shared sleeping rooms containing four beds each.” The facility will include “five bathrooms, a shower facility, a kitchen, communal areas and offices for support staff.” Block Club quotes Laura Michalski, executive director of North Side Housing, who states “The shelter will be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and will require its residents to adhere to an 8 p.m. curfew. Security will be on-hand at all times, and visitors or loitering are not allowed at the facility.”
Regardless of timing or political expediency, most residents of Rogers Park are breathing a sigh of relief now that the encampment is gone and the park is being restored.
The question going forward is, can the homeless encampment be kept at bay? Homelessness has not gone away, and the risk that homeless individuals gravitate back to the park cannot be ruled out, especially now that the homeless shelter will open next door.
The Alderwoman, police and Park District all seem united in their desire to maintain the park as a recreational amenity and not let it regress to being a residence of last resort for homeless individuals. Whether this resolve can be maintained now that the election is over and after the homeless shelter opens will become apparent in the months ahead.
