With subfreezing winds and well below average temperatures expecting to sweep the city starting this Thursday, homelessness advocates across Chicago are taking swift action to meet the urgent needs of people living without shelter before the storm emerges.
A homeless individual exits her winterized tent under a viaduct near Fulton Street and Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago on Dec. 20, 2022.
With subfreezing winds and well below average temperatures expected to sweep the city starting Thursday, advocates across Chicago are taking swift action to meet the urgent needs of people living without shelter before the storm emerges. From winter gear to portable heaters to tents, activists from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Night Ministry and others are working to ensure people are as prepared and protected as possible.
Patten said the group has been handing out “sack suppers” and cold weather gear such as winter coats, hats, gloves, thermal underwear, sleeping bags and blankets, along with hand and foot warmers. They are also providing information about warming centers and other places people can go to seek relief from the cold.
Shawn Scott sweeps the sidewalk on North Milwaukee Avenue near Fulton Market on Dec. 20, 2022. Scott says once a week he cleans the entire sidewalk outside his and others' winterized tents on Milwaukee Avenue. Robledo said the situation for people sheltering outdoors has already been dire, and that’s why he got ahead by assembling tents before winter hit. Robledo’s tents, which he builds by repurposing ice fishing tents, include a foundation, heating and lighting. But he said there’s only so much ground he or the organization can cover.emergency builds all over the city and will continue to accelerate his efforts as soon as more tents arrive.
“It gets flattened almost instantly,” Robledo said. “Most of the traditional Coleman tents that you see out at the camps will not withstand the winds. They will collapse with snow. They don’t hold any heat. It’s just as cold inside of them than it is outside. Temperatures will reach dangerous levels inside of those tents.
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