OP-ED
CONTACT INFORMATION:
GetinTouch@extremeweatherplannerschicago.com, Julie Dickinson, 773.715.1998
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
This winter in Chicago there are at least nine confirmed deaths due to hypothermia- overexposure to the cold. It’s a horrible way to die. Along with hypothermia likely frostbite also sets in, especially in the fingers and toes, freezing the tissue beneath the skin and restricting blood flow. As body temperature drops, so does heart rate and blood pressure. When body temperature drops below 90 degrees often mental confusion, disorientation, and hallucinations can happen. Eventually the heart stops. At temperatures of 20 degrees Fahrenheit or colder an average adult can freeze to death in an hour-or-less.
Even the vast resources expended and efforts taken on the part of the City of Chicago to help those most at-risk during extreme cold weather aren’t enough. While the City boasts 300 “warming centers” across Chicago, during the recent sub-zero cold snap only two facilities were open 24-hours a day. Some locations didn’t even know they were in-fact identified as warming centers.
Preventing frostbite and death from overexposure to the cold is possible, and well within the capacity of City agencies to accomplish — that’s why I’m part of the Extreme Weather Planning Coalition, an advocacy group composed of organizations and advocates committed to protecting vulnerable Chicagoans from extreme weather. I strongly endorse and advocate for the six (6) specific suggestions proposed by the Coalition on Extreme Weather Planning to city agencies on how to improve protection for those at-risk during extreme cold:
- Deploy CTA Mobile Warming Buses: Station CTA buses at all major unhoused encampments as mobile warming centers. These buses must welcome everyone in need, replicating the City’s successful use of buses as cooling centers during the August 2006 heat wave.
- Expand Warming Center Accessibility: Open all six City-operated warming centers 24/7 to everyone. Round-the-clock access is essential to provide reliable refuge during extreme weather events.
- Allow Overnight Rest: Guarantee that individuals can sleep at warming buses or centers without being denied access. Basic human dignity must be preserved.
- Facilitate Transportation to Shelter: Provide unsheltered individuals accessible transportation from warming buses and City warming centers to available shelter beds, ensuring safe passage to more stable accommodations.
- Suspend Encampment Closures and Tent Removals During Winter Months: The coalition calls for an immediate halt to encampment clearances during the winter season, ensuring unsheltered individuals are not displaced during life-threatening weather conditions.
- Raise the Winter Weather Response Threshold to 40°F, Including Wind Chill: The City needs to update its extreme weather response plan to factor in wind chill and wet, snowy, or windy conditions, raising the activation threshold to 40°F. This adjustment accounts for the reality that even at 45°F, strong winds can bring the effective temperature down to dangerous levels, such as 32°F.
One of the standard responses used to push back against more resources and effort to address the effects of extreme weather is…money. However, inaction is often more expensive than action, even in the short run. A recent study by the University of Loyola Medical Center shows that treating a 1st-time frostbite victim can run up to $23,000.
In addition to the recommendations from the Extreme Weather Planning Coalition, I strongly urge newly-appointed Chicago Park District Superintendent Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, and whoever is appointed new head of the Office of Emergency Communications & Management, to ensure that the dignity and well-being of unsheltered and other at-risk people is considered when developing extreme weather plans. I also encourage the city to work closely with people on the frontlines of extreme weather, such as the 40+ groups currently associated with the Coalition.
We know the grassroots organization we’re active with who’s part of the Coalition are already looking ahead to summer, because many of the same people at-risk to extreme cold are also challenged by extreme heat. Many of the same remedies used during winter can also be activated in the summer: buses used in January & February to help people get warm can become mobile cooling centers in July & August.
Forty-one City Council members have signed a letter calling for immediate action to address significant gaps in the City’s Extreme Weather Response Plan. Hopefully this leads to direct action soon. We’d also like more community organizations and providers to join this movement, and look to seeing the Extreme Weather Planning Coalition become a truly citywide coalition.
No one should freeze to death during a Chicago winter, or die from overheating in the summer. We can all be part of the effort to make sure no one else does.
__________________________________________________________________________
The Extreme Weather Planning Coalition is composed of organizations and advocates committed to protecting vulnerable Chicagoans from extreme weather. With expertise in public health, healthcare, outreach, and community organizing, this group is dedicated to working with City leadership to develop sustainable solutions to homelessness and extreme weather challenges. For more information on the Coalition, contact: GetinTouch@extremeweatherplannerschicago.com©2025 Loren Taylor
Loren Taylor is a long-time community-based organizer, and part of the People’s Response Network, a grassroots organization advocating for people-based solutions to issues concerning public health.
