Northwest Side neighbors urge city to clear out Gompers Park homeless camp
CHICAGO - Community concern is growing over a homeless encampment on Chicago’s Northwest Side, where neighbors say they've been asking the city to step in for months.
Residents near Gompers Park packed a community meeting on Monday night hosted by 39th Ward Alderwoman Samantha Nugent.
There, neighbors were looking for answers from the Office of Mayor Brandon Johnson, but many of them did not receive the clarity they were hoping for.
Near Pulaski Road and Foster Avenue, community members say that an encampment has grown over the past two years, with more tents appearing near the park's basketball courts and one of its baseball diamonds in recent months.
Some neighbors have even formed a coalition called "Restore Gompers Park," seeking the city’s intervention to restore safety and accessibility to the green space.
They say they’ve noticed fewer families utilizing the park due to safety concerns, and they want the city to take steps to address it.
"When DFSS and the Park District have done their monthly cleanups, they've uncovered drug needles, knives that have been hidden in shrubs and bushes, there are bags of human feces that they've removed and sanitary pads," said Nicole Foster, coalition member.
More than 450 neighbors have signed a petition requesting an ‘Accelerated Moving Event’ (AME).It would speed up and fund the process of placing the unhoused individuals living at Gompers Park into homes. Once scheduled, AMEs take place over one to two days, according to city officials at Monday’s meeting.
"We're not looking for these folks to be kicked out, we're looking for subsidized housing to be provided to them as part of an Accelerated Moving Event, so that they get city services and support to get back on their feet," said Foster.
During the meeting, held at the Salvation Army’s Mayfair Community Church, Ald. Nugent said she is disappointed that despite asking Mayor Johnson to help expedite this process, nothing has been done.
"I am disappointed we have not been given an Accelerated Moving Event. It’s something that we’ve been really pushing for," said Nugent. "In the meantime, the Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) has been visiting the encampment several times each week to gather census information and is working to find housing on an individual basis."
Chief Homelessness Officer Sendy Soto, who was appointed by Johnson in April, says the mayor is making strides.
"He is providing, not only housing solutions, but immediate homelessness services to people in a way that is transparent, open, and advocating for more funding and more support," Soto told the crowd during Monday’s meeting.
Prior to the meeting, members of another organization – 39th Ward Neighbors United – explained that there is a deeper issue. Adam Gianforte, who also lives in the neighborhood, shares that there are currently no shelters in the ward and wants to see that change.
"It's often very difficult when people in the encampment are offered shelter or housing far away from where they live, because they are already in a precarious living situation and then they are separated from their case manager, their known food pantries, their doctor," said Gianforte.
A city official, on Monday evening, shared that it costs roughly $30,000 per household to be enrolled in rapid housing, which includes a place to live and wraparound services for up to 24 months.
FOX 32 Chicago reached out to the Office of Mayor Brandon Johnson requesting a statement on Monday but did not immediately hear back.