As my bout of homelessness draws to an end, I find myself facing new challenges.

I have secured a place to live, but I can’t move in until certain “necessary” repairs have been completed. The apartment is an unfurnished studio; it requires a new window, plumbing, and electrical work. I believe the landlord demanded a large deposit and pre-payment of rent in order to fund these repairs.

I can no longer use the temp agency, because I no longer meet their definition of “unhoused”. This has been a major blow as I had been planning on keeping them as a backup for the next few months. As it turns out, I now need that backup plan: my transit pass has expired, and I only have a little over $1 in change I found. I was thinking about pawning or selling my laptop, but many of the jobs I’ve been applying for require a computer and I don’t think, when times are better, that I’ll be able to find a comparable one for the $50 I was offered.

Due to my transit issue, I’ve been walking a lot more lately. I’ve found that my trips take more planning and there are some things that simply can’t be done on the same day. From where I’m currently staying to the new apartment, it’s about a 3-hour walk. The way has almost no public bathrooms or water fountains; I’ve found that, especially in the heat of the summer, most restaurants will give you free water if you ask. The consequences of all this walking: my shoes have taken a beating, I’ve had to tighten my belt a bit, and I’m now down to a single pair of pants that kind of fit.

A few of you have asked book/e-book. I’ve been working on it. I think it will be partially fictionalized: mostly for legal reasons, but also to clean up the narrative a bit. It kind of has a Moby Dick problem, in that reads half as a narrative story and half as a study of how unhoused people live in Chicago in 2023. I would like to self-publish with a pay-what-you-like model, but Amazon/Kindle seems easier and more accessible. I figure that if it does well, I could get a futon and some curtains, and the excess could go to whatever cause you think is appropriate. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Homeless Encampments

Throughout the city there are a number of tent communities. These range from quite large tent cities, such as in Logan Square, to clusters of two or three tucked near overpasses. The tents themselves range from newly purchased by their occupants to those donated, often en masse, by organizations and individuals to those handed down by the formerly unhoused. The level of “community” varies from merely living in close proximity to one another, to making use of communal property and providing for shared needs. The occupants are similarly diverse: there are teenagers and pensioners; there are singles, couples, and a few families; most are Americans, but many are immigrants.

There is nothing true of all the encampments except that each of them houses a group of people who live in tents.

Tent Villages and Food

Food is a nearly constant concern. Thankfully, there are several programs and organizations throughout the city that provide free and low-cost food. Connecting donors with recipients can be difficult because distributions aren’t usually advertised, and most events are on a first come first served basis. The distributions are mostly canned goods and staples, like beans, rice, or sometimes bread; the remainder is usually made up of a mixture of fresh food, usually nearing its expiry, and convenience foods, like ramen or granola bars.

Among the more communal villages, like the one I’m currently staying near, there is a great deal of cooperation and coordination in securing food. Some organizations are known to give away lots of fresh produce; these are generally avoided because, given the state of sanitation and lack of cold storage, fresh produce is more of a burden than a blessing in a tent village. (These organizations do good work; it’s just better for people who either live in food deserts or can’t afford such food.) Other organizations distribute a consistent quality and quantity of food, but on an erratic schedule, such as when they have built up enough food and found enough volunteers to sort it into roughly equitable parcels. Many organizations provide certain special items like hygiene products, baby food, or pet items upon request; infant formula seems to be in constant short supply across all organizations.

Once the food is secured, preparing it presents another set of challenges. Drinking water can normally be purchased by the gallon, some people boil or filter water from a public tap. Heat sources include camp stoves and larger grills. Most of the grills, while designed for charcoal, now burn wood, paper, or anything else flammable. Open flames are generally discouraged for safety reasons. In some of the more well-equipped encampments, you can find hotplates and toaster ovens; I’m not sure about the source of their power.

Stressing that I have only limited experience with the encampments it seems that meals, as such, are not served, rather a main dish of several ingredients is made available when it’s been thoroughly cooked. In some camps everyone is responsible for feeding themselves.

Encampments and Sanitation

In recent weeks the city has been trying to improve the cleanliness of the camps. These efforts have included increased trash collection and the installation of several portable toilets. While these efforts have improved the conditions of the camps I’ve visited, I would like to point out that the tent-dwellers weren’t just living in their own filth waiting for someone to clean things up. Many of the camps are placed near facilities that aid their cleanliness. Some are placed near police precinct buildings, which provide some of the only 24-hour restroom facilities available to all members of the public; others are located near shelters and other establishments that provide showers and bathing facilities.

”Susan”

“Susan” was the impetus for my first visit to one of the encampments. I was introduced to her by someone I met in one of the programs.

Susan is an elderly woman who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a little less than a year ago. She participates in one or more programs that essentially make her medication and supplies free to her.

In an attempt to make some extra money, she had been trying to control her diabetes through diet while foregoing the use of her medication. She had been selling her medication and supplies to organizations that offered cash for such things; these organizations, some legitimate others illicit, would then resell her supplies or medication at a sharp discount from their retail price.

When I first met her, she was suffering from many of the symptoms of hyperglycemia. Upon testing, her unit only registered that the sample was higher than 720 mg/dl. She refused to go to a hospital for reasons she refused to specify. Using what little of her medication she had retained, we were eventually able to get her to a normal blood glucose level.

When she felt well, she explained her plan. While she had maintained a healthy weight and cut out sugar and sweets from her diet, it quickly became apparent that she was unaware starches (like bread, potatoes, or rice) could also raise her blood sugar. She revealed that aside from being shown how to inject insulin, she hadn’t been given any in-person counselling regarding her disease. I was dumbfounded that in America, a patient with a chronic illness hadn’t been counselled about exactly what foods could exacerbate her condition.

I’ve seen Susan recently: she has continued to sell a portion of her supplies while attempting to control her diabetes with diet. Now that she knows how various foods will affect her, she’s kept blood sugar under control and hasn’t had anymore medical episodes.