(ConservativeJournal.org) – A well-known tent city along the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago is being permanently closed before the Democratic National Convention (DNC). The city reported that about 60 people living there were hoping to benefit from the city’s plan to move them to a shelter before the convention in August.
On Thursday, July 11, Brandie Knazze, the Family and Support Services of Chicago commissioner, stated that her department wanted to avoid a last-minute request from federal authorities to relocate the residents.
The encampment has been around for almost a decade. Its residents will be moved to a city-operated shelter that used to be a hotel in the gold coast area of the city. This building, located near the John Hancock Center and the Magnificent Mile, was previously called the Selina Chicago Hotel. It also includes a space that used to be a restaurant, which closed in 2020 because of the Covid pandemic.
Last year, with help of a grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services, the building was converted from a hotel into a homeless shelter. This reportedly caused some tension with nearby residents. Commissioner Knazze said that following the DNC, the city will look at housing or other shelter options for the homeless who are living in the tent city.
Knazze emphasized that the city was not acting on a federal request to move the homeless. She said the reason for closing it so quickly is simply to be proactive. Knazze further argued that since they already had access to all the resources they needed to move the people living in the tent city as quickly and safely as possible, they might as well get it over with.
The tent city residents were informed about the move on June 20, and the site is set to be officially shut down and closed off by Wednesday, July 17.
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