Community Corner

Once Homeless, Man Finds Freedom in North Side Shelter

A look at the issue of homelessness in Chicago, in part through the eyes of a North Side man who used his resources in a Lincoln Park interim housing facility to overcome living on the street.

People who crossed paths two years ago with Albert Lopez likely had no idea he was living on the street.

"I grew up in a (Chicago Housing Authority project) on the southeast side," said the upbeat North Side resident. "I was street smart. I think I was better off than most."

The 48-year-old DePaul University graduate and former Chicago Public Schools teacher says he doesn't rely on the holiday season to remind him to be thankful. He's grateful every day. Lopez became homeless after losing his job, and in 2006, he developed liver disease and diabetes.

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He can now afford a subsidized Uptown apartment, thanks to graduating from the Lincoln Park Community Shelter's On Track Program, which has helped about 300 homeless Chicagoans regain stability, confidence and a reliable roof over their heads.

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There is no agreed upon definition of who is homeless, nor is there a finitive count of how many people are homeless in the city, according to the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness, which manages more than $50 million in state and federal grants for related services.

"A recent one-day census organized by the city of Chicago found 5,170 people either staying in shelters or living on the street in the city of Chicago," according to the organization. "This number is down 18 percent from 2007, when a similar survey found 5,922 homeless individuals."

The city's count is based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development definition of homelessness — "when an individual lacks a fixed, regular and adequate place to sleep or who regularly spends the night in a shelter, similar institution, or place not meant for human habitation."

However, the Alliance says many organizations use a broader definition that includes those who are "precariously housed," at risk of homelessness or living "doubled up."

When the latter definition is used, the city's adult homeless number grows to at least 21,000, according to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

And for a time in 2010, Lopez was among them.

Finding 'Secure, but Warm Places'

It started when he lost his CPS job—one he held from 1992 to 2007, in various capacities—because of imposed district regulations; some through the No Child Left Behind Act.

Those regulations changed the requirements for a certified teaching license, he said. His unemployment eventually ran out and health problems inhibited him from working steadily, even as a substitute teacher.

Lopez lived on his own until he could no longer afford housing and then bounced around to family members' homes for some time. His daughter, who's now a teenager, was sent to live with his sister on the south side.

Then for about a month and a half around November 2010, he was officially on the street. The overwhelming hunger Lopez's felt during that time was related not so much to food, but turning his life around.

"I had the opportunities to live with family and friends, which I did prior, but it just wasn't the same," Lopez said, adding that he didn't want to be an imposition and was adamant about conquering challenges on his own. 

"I'd find secure but warm places to sleep that were isolated from everybody … It's not like I was rolling in and living under viaducts," he said. "I'd get up early in the morning and no one would even know. I'd shower in the park … take advantage of my bus pass to get to the library and research … stuff like that."

His research eventually paid off, leading him to the Lincoln Park Community Shelter. The interim housing facility is privately funded. Coordinators aren't legally required to send any of the 35 residents enrolled in their On Track program back onto the street after a given time—typically a four-month period for publicly funded facilities, Community Relations Manager Meghan Freebeck has said. 

"If we were held to those regulations, we'd be kicking people out just as they were getting on their feet," she said during a conversation this past fall. "It shouldn't be a cyclical process. The goal is that they turn it around for good."

Potential guests like Lopez are placed on a waiting list and once accepted to the program, can stay as long as necessary to get back on their feet, provided they're completing required courses, searching for work and taking all necessary steps to rehabilitate themselves.

Breaking the Cycle

When Lopez stepped into the shelter's Interim Housing Community, he felt at home.

"One thing about this place is that … the people here feel comfortable with everyone else including the staff,"  he said. "It's a naturally family oriented environment. You really let yourself go. If you need to, you cry on their shoulders and then, you all come together and help pick the next person up." 

The community serves 35 guests each night year-round—24 men and 11 women who are kept in two separate living quarters. In addition to meals and safe living space, it provides storage, showers and laundry facilities. 

The average length of stay is about six months, according to LPCS data. In 2011, the shelter provided safe, structured interim housing and three nutritious meals per day to more than 260 people.

All guests are enrolled in the mandatory On Track Program, which seeks to not only identify, but rectify, the core reasons for homelessness and barriers to self-sufficiency.

It "allows guests to see beyond the present and immediate, basic needs to planning for the future, one in which the cycle of homelessness is broken," according to the shelter's website.

Participants are placed in any combination of three curriculum tracks—addictions and recovery; mental and physical health; and employment and education.

"The goal of each guest is to return to self-sufficiency through improved social functioning and independent living," according to an LPCS statement. "Each track has measurable outcomes, and includes assessments, goal-setting, referrals, educational groups … advocacy and follow-up."

Curfew rules are imposed for residents and those who eventually secure jobs can remain at the shelter to build up a savings account, which staff members help them to create, Freebeck says.

"You're required to save money from day one, if you get an income," Lopez said. "… Housing is a separate entity that you work on. They mandate that you at least have your rent, a security deposit and some pennies to go on. … They don't throw you out but they want you to feel comfortable where you're going."

Lopez embarked on his coursework in March of 2011. He left the shelter in May of 2012, when four others graduated from the program along with him.

'Look at What I did'

The LPCS approach is precisely the type necessary to remedy homelessness in Chicago, according to Getting Housed, Staying Housed: A Collaborative Plan to End Homelessness

The study was compiled by the 2001-founded Chicago Continuum of Care, a community-driven effort by more than 200 government agencies and advocates to create a long-term plan to address homelessness.

It suggests expanding the availability of affordable permanent housing and increasing its accessibility; providing transitional programs that link people to community resources; offering wraparound services that promote housing stability and self-sufficiency, and much more. 

"For Chicago, this approach requires a fundamental shift in its shelter strategy, away from its current tiered system of care to an Interim Housing model in which short-term housing is provided for the minimum time needed to access permanent housing, with services focused on an immediate and comprehensive needs assessment, resource acquisition and housing placement," the study says.

The LPCS system worked for Lopez, as well as hundreds of others who have successfully completed it.

Life for him now includes regular visits back to LPCS to volunteer—as many graduates tend to do—as well as time with his daughter and hours participating in his church's Bible study group.

The cheerful, sincere Uptown resident says he routinely approaches people he passes who are living on the street to let them know there are resources available. He likens the search for help to a job hunt.

"The more persistent you are, the quicker you can become secure again," he said. "You've got to have a lot of patience."

Doors for interim housing don't open overnight, he stressed.

"You just have to remember every day that you're going through hunger and facing the cold that it's going to be over if you hang on and stick to your appointments, stick to your word," he said. "You can climb the rungs. Look at me. Look at what I did."

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