GROWING HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS AROUND CHICAGO - DAN RYAN - ROOSEVELT

by Suzanne Hanney / photography by Kathleen Hinkel

DAN RYAN - ROOSEVELT

The Dan Ryan-Roosevelt encampment “has grown by leaps and bounds and is getting bigger as we speak,” said Ricardo Vera, a resident there and a vice president of the new Chicago Union of the Homeless.

Roughly 50 people live in 42 tents just east of the Dan Ryan Expressway, from Roosevelt Road to Taylor Street. In the last two years, and especially the last six months, the encampment has grown close to capacity, Vera said. People cannot afford their rent or their landlords have shut them out and changed the locks. For some – dockworkers, beauticians, nail techs, construction – their jobs are gone.

Dan Ryan-Roosevelt proved to be important homeless infrastructure when construction on the Jane Byrne interchange of the Dan Ryan Expressway threatened its existence last October. Residents protested, shouting, “Give us a home or leave us alone.”

Ricardo Vera at the Dan Ryan - Roosevelt encampment with a carload of items he is donating elsewhere in the city.

Kathleen Hinkel

Illinois Department of Transportation officials later told StreetWise that given the onset of winter, the pandemic, and shelter capacity, IDOT would coordinate with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and the City of Chicago before any work began.

People waiting to get into the encampment sleep in the doorways of adjacent businesses, Vera said. The encampment welcomes them with a tent and critical questions like, “Are you on drugs?” “Do you need any services?” “Do you want us to take you to Cook County Hospital for a checkup?” Tents and food are donated by the public and Vera has a car, so he is able to provide transportation.

Vera is haunted by one person the encampment took in who only lived there about five months before he froze to death in the polar vortex of Feb. 15, 2020, when the wind chills were 30 and 50 below zero.

A fire burns and the encampment.

Kathleen Hinkel

Wayne Warren was in his 70s, a Vietnam veteran who had been put out of a shelter because he had a bladder infection and was incontinent.

“Wayne shouldn’t have been there, they should have taken him to [John H. Stroger Hospital of] Cook County,” Vera said. “Whether or not they could have treated it right there, at least they could have given him Depends so he could go back to [the shelter]. They just decided to turn their back on him and send him into the cold.” Warren declined camp leaders’ offer of a heater and died with his hand up in the air.

“Christ received him at that moment, with his hand up in the air, frozen, just as if he was receiving keys to his apartment. That’s what motivated me to not have his name forgotten or his death in vain, what motivated me to be part of the Chicago Union of the Homeless.”

Ricardo Vera, a vice president of the Chicago Union of the Homeless, stops to pray for a moment at the spot where Wayne Warren, a homeless veteran, froze to death. The space is left empty at the encampment as a memorial.

Kathleen Hinkel

Interviewed just before one of the January snowstorms, Vera said they were making sure everyone had heaters, propane, and handwashing necessities. The encampment does have port-a-potties and handwashing facilities, which Vera said they received late in the administration of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “Otherwise we would still have to turn to the businesses, which are not letting nobody in.”

As part of its platform to get everyone out of encampments and abandoned buildings, the Chicago Union of the Homeless held a protest at the boarded-up rowhouses of the Cabrini-Green housing development.

“We’re talking 400 apartments that have been vacant for over 10 years,” Vera said. “That’s uncalled for. To us, empty apartments means death. We’ve kicked the can down the road year after year. Mayor [Lori] Lightfoot ran on a platform that she would help the homeless. We’re going to hold her to that. We’re not going away.”

Banners hang outside the encampment along Desplaines Street.

Kathleen Hinkel