By Suzanne Hanney

Streetwise

One in two unaccompanied homeless youths in Illinois were turned away from programs last year due to lack of resources, and a new study calls for doubling state funding. Youths who accessed programs numbered 2,895, but those who could not totaled 3,088.

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) announced Dec. 20 that it is seeking $7 million more in state funding for homeless youths, based on a survey of the state's service providers. Next year, the programs have been allocated $4.7 million, which CCH said has increased only $700,000 since 1998.

The new money would double the number of beds for homeless youth from 318 to 636. It would also allow most youths seeking help to be served. Right now, pregnant or parenting youths were identified as "underserved" by 37 percent of the providers and disabled youth by 21 percent.

By Michelle Cooper

With the housing market in a slump, one might think the last thing a development company would consider is building a new luxury high-rise. But that is exactly what local developers Garrett Kelleher and the Shelbourne Development Group are doing.

With world-renowned architect Santiago Calatrava, the developers came up with plans for what will be the tallest building in the United States. The Chicago Spire will sit on the edge of the lakefront and surpass all the architecture around it.

According to reports, the Spire will stand 2,000 feet, almost dwarfing the Sears Tower which stands at 1,450 feet. It will also be in competition with the proposed Freedom Towers in New York, which are planned to be around 1,776 feet.

By Sophia Block

Chicago’s Pacific Garden Mission moved from its long-time home on State Street to a new state-of-the-art facility at 1458 S. Canal St. Before the final move, the lobby of the old refuge was filled with dozens of torn, stained mattresses. Meanwhile at the new facility, a sparkling new lobby leads the way to almost 1,000 brand new beds for Chicago’s homeless.

“I see greater things happening here,” said Gracie Sanders, security counselor in the women’s division of the new Pacific Gardens.

Sanders raved about the free medical clinic that serves anyone in need. “It’s like going downtown to a cushy office,” she said.

By Meg White

Chicago is not doing enough to address the “sad state of family housing,” a leading affordable housing advocate told several Chicago City Council members last week.

"How are we servicing families?" asked Kevin Jackson, executive director of the Chicago Rehab Network, after the Housing and Real Estate Committee received a quarterly update from the Department of Housing's Acting Commissioner Ellen Sahli.

Commissioner Sahli said several new development projects have been constructed in neighborhoods around the city, including Kenwood and Lawndale. She also highlighted the department's outreach efforts, which include holding expos and targeting grants to specific groups of residents who need housing assistance.

Award-winning writer Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here and Never A City So Real, will join Residents Journal staffers Mary C. Johns and Beauty Turner to co-host a We The People Media/Residents Journal bus tour of the inner city Saturday, Sep. 29.

The trips, sometimes called Beauty's Ghetto Bus Tours, have been covered by the Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times and the Associated Press, among others.

By Jamie Morgan

   Three alderman representing the Midwest and Roosevelt-Homan TIF Districts have set aside nearly $3 million to help residents fix up the outside of their homes.

   Homeowners in the districts, which roughly span east to west from Washington Boulevard to 16th Street and north to south from Western Avenue to Kostner Avenue, filled bright orange seats and stood against the walls in Marshall High School’s auditorium to hear more about the grant process.

   Attendees urged speakers to raise their voices so everyone could hear, and got restless when questions from audience members dragged on too long.

   Veteran Alderman Ed Smith (28th Ward) and City Hall newcomers Alderman Sharon Dixon (24th Ward) and Alderman Robert Fioretti (2nd Ward) joined with the Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago in the hopes of bringing more business to neighborhoods like Lawndale, stricken with empty lots.

By Keri Lynch

Homeless by choice for nearly 10 years, Harry Madix says he wasn't ready for help, even though a lot of services were available. Struggling with addiction, he walked in 1995 into an Uptown homeless organization and got the support he needed to get his life back together.

"I got a second chance," he says. "It's like a miracle."

Madix and 30 others involved with Inspiration Café shared their stories with Karen Skalitzky, who cooked up a book, A Recipe for Hope, Stories of Transformation by People Struggling with Homelessness, which recently won a merit award from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association. The book combines recipes and stories to reveal what makes this Chicago non-profit organization unique: hospitality and relationships.

By Curtis Lawrence

The Chicago City Council's revised housing set-aside ordinance approved May 14 may cause legal problems for aldermen who back more progressive measures in their wards, Ald. Billy Ocasio (26th) warned.

Ocasio spoke to his fellow aldermen in a packed council chambers during the last session before newly elected aldermen take over. Mayor Daley called the 8:30 a.m. session after Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) and her allies used a parliamentary maneuver to block a vote on the ordinance last week, hoping to impose tougher language. (Showdown on set-asides)

By Jamie Morgan

Tabitha Escobar Perez didn't think she could afford a home in Chicago. Living in East Humboldt Park, she's seen gentrification and rising real estate prices push aside her dreams of home ownership before.

When Perez was married, she and her husband made about $42,000 - enough to get by but not enough to move to a bigger space.

"With that money, we could not afford to live in our neighborhood," said Perez. "We ended up putting it on the back burner until we could figure it out."

By Jessica Wylie

Thousands of Chicago's homeless and low-income families will begin receiving affordable housing, thanks to a new statewide rental assistance program that's put an additional $10 million into the city's trust fund, local officials say.

"It looked like there was a burden lifted, like we won," said Dollie Brewer, women's empowerment project coordinator for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, which spearheaded development of the new statewide Rental Housing Support Program. "We had to fight two years to get this passed. We jumped through quite a few hoops.