A new shelter for single homeless men has opened in Rogers Park, rejecting typical shelter features such as group living and banning residents from staying during the day.
Operated by the nonprofit North Side Housing and Supportive Services, the shelter at 7464 N. Clark St. can house 70 men in double-occupancy rooms. Residents will also be able to access case management and health care services as well as three meals a day on site, officials said at Monday’s ribbon-cutting.
Beds are already starting to fill up, as men displaced during the cleanup of a large homeless encampment in Humboldt Park Friday were given a chance to get settled. Fifteen men were transported to the shelter’s door after leaving the encampment Friday, while another 13 of the homeless men from across the city moved in over the weekend.
“A lot of times I tried to find a shelter, but it was almost full, I couldn’t get in,” said Jimmie Jenkins, 32, who arrived at the shelter Saturday evening. “(It was) the first time I came to a shelter and they opened the doors to me right away.”
Jenkins has mostly been sleeping on CTA trains for a year, he said. His stay at the Rogers Park shelter has been “peaceful” so far, he said, adding that “ever since I got here, I’ve been grateful.”
Although more than two-thirds of Chicago’s homeless are men, only about 22 percent of the city’s shelter beds are available for single men, according to housing officials. Mayor Brandon Johnson also noted in his remarks Monday that shelters for homeless men have historically been “available only in large congregate settings.”
Unlike traditional homeless shelters, which require residents to leave the premises each morning before returning in the evening, the Rogers Park facility will allow residents to stay all day and access services 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, Chicago Department of Housing Commissioner Lissette Castañeda said Monday.
“(This shelter) represents a shift toward more dignified and humane care for those who need it,” Castañeda said. “People who seek refuge here can begin to rebuild their lives without the added pressure of having to leave and return every day. They will have constant access to support services… as well as the dignity of having a place to call their own.
No time limits will be placed on stays at the shelter, Johnson said, with the goal being to help all residents move into permanent housing.
North Side Housing and Supportive Services has set aside more than 150 affordable apartments for the homeless, units that many of the shelter’s residents could eventually move into, said board member Dick Simpson.
The city estimates the new shelter will house about 250 men per year.
Alex Soto, 26, arrived at the Rogers Park shelter on Sunday after spending two months on the streets after his mother kicked him out, he said.
The shelter has since given him “hot meals at night” and essential items like shampoo and clothes, he said, adding that he has already started talking to a social worker about finding a job and accommodation.
“It’s really up to me when I want to leave,” Soto said. “I definitely want to have a house, that’s my goal, to try to see if I can get a house or an apartment and move forward, and not think about what I’m going through right now.”
The City of Chicago awarded North Side Housing and Supportive Services a $6.9 million grant to fund the purchase and renovation of the vacant former medical building on Clark Street, which now houses the shelter .
The physical design of the shelter incorporates a “trauma-informed” approach, characterized by “warm natural materials and soft indirect light,” according to architect Sean McGuire of Gensler, the firm that designed it. The rooms were designed to have an “intentionally residential feel, evoking the authentic comfort of home,” McGuire said.
Each of the new shelter’s 35 rooms has its own skylight and has two beds and two nightstands, with linens and walls colored in soft shades of green. Companies including Kohler, Ikea and Steinhafels have donated furniture, according to a city news release.
This non-congregate shelter model was inspired by lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Ministry of Families and Support Services Commissioner Brandie Knazze.
When the city had to use hotels as non-congregate shelters to stop the spread of the virus, a University of Chicago study found that residents experienced “significant improvements in their medical and physical health systems and an increased rate transition to permanent housing. ” Knazze said.
“These non-congregate shelter projects are redefining what people consider shelter and what shelter looks like,” Knazze said. “This helps us raise the bar, restore dignity and ensure that the people we serve know they have a place to live and that we are working tirelessly for them.” »
The Rogers Park shelter is the first of five new non-congregate shelters the city plans to open over the next few years, which will add a total of 1,000 new beds for the city’s homeless population, Knazze said.
Ald. Maria Hadden, 49th, who held a number of public meetings and feedback sessions during the shelter’s development, announced Monday that more than 70 percent of the Rogers Park community had expressed support for the project.
“We are all one emergency away from being homeless,” Hadden said Monday. “We know we need not only warm, safe, dry spaces, but trauma-informed spaces staffed by fairly paid staff, who know what they’re doing, who can work with our neighbors to help them identify obstacles. on their way to getting back on their feet.
