CHICAGO, IL —Unhoused individuals and communities in Chicago have struggled to survive through two polar vortexes this winter. Many living on the streets did not make it. An unhoused correspondent says he has heard of 15 people in homelessness who died. People exposed to the elements are living in extreme conditions and can die from a combination of many factors: cold, sickness, violence, hunger, dehydration, etc. Every year, a number of deaths go unreported by official counts. Still, the Mayor and the City Council continue to use deceptive and legalistic tactics to avoid doing anything serious about the crisis. On March 11, an alderman representing a relatively wealthy ward stalled a proposal to put a referendum on the November 2020 ballot asking voters whether they favor raising the transfer tax by 1.2% on homes sold for over $1 million in order to benefit the homeless. The City Council stacked the vote against the proposal by moving it from one committee to another. Cliché arguments that homeowners are “not an ATM machine” are all that “Mayor 1%” had to offer the people who are dying in our streets. But Chicago’s homeless communities are organizing! And People’s Tribune will be reporting.
