Pervasive housing issues and poverty are, in part, to blame for more Chicago individuals and families being homeless, moreso now than ever before, according to a local, non-profit homeless advocacy agency.
Pervasive housing issues and poverty are, in part, to blame for more Chicago individuals and families being homeless, moreso now than ever before, according to a local, non-profit homeless advocacy agency.
“The primary reason why there are 73,000 people homeless in Chicago annually is due to a lack of affordable housing,” said Julie Dworkin, director of policy for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.
Low-wage jobs are a factor, too, she said.
“I’m not talking about just the working poor but those with extremely low incomes (less than $20,000 per year).”
“There has to be people to work minimum wage jobs, and for those who do, it usually means they cannot afford to pay a lot for housing,” she said. “About 40 percent of people living in shelters are families. I see homeless more of a poverty issue than anything else because we have people living in poverty situations even though they have jobs.”
That was true for Troy McCullough, 53. He became homeless, in part, because of low wages, no health insurance and the inability to afford paying rent.
After working seven years as a minimum wage employee at a Chicago antique store, McCullough suffered a stroke in 2002. For the next 18 months, he would stay at a Chicago nursing home while he recovered only to be transferred to a homeless shelter after his Medicaid insurance ran out.
“Once that check stop coming, they told me I was being transferred because Medicaid was not going to pay for my stay any longer,” McCullough told the Defender. “They transferred me to a shelter and that is where I lived up until last year.”
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