Franciscan Outreach is about to open its first non-congregate shelter, in South Lawndale next to the Pink Line’s Western station, and on Tuesday I joined their day of service to get a tour and help make beds. From what I gather this is the third non-congregate shelter in Chicago.

Eighty-four men will each get their own bedroom, and share a bathroom and shower with up to three others. “Non-congregate” means people sleep in private rooms instead of rows of cots in one big room. It’s a big upgrade in dignity, privacy, and sleep quality, and it’s a building type that looks a lot like the single room occupancy (SRO) buildings Chicago used to have plenty of.

Exterior view of the whole building; the shelter has an outdoor patio and gated bike parking (the gate is not yet installed)
The shelter has an outdoor patio and (soon-to-be) gated bike parking.
One of the interior bedrooms, using a skylight for natural lighting; there is a bed, a nightstand, a table lamp, and artwork of the Wrigley Building
One of the bedrooms, lit by a skylight.

The ribbon cutting was earlier today, but an opening date for guests hasn’t been set.

Other operators have recently opened them in Rogers Park and Lincoln Square, and one is coming soon in Humboldt Park. The Austin Weekly News wrote about the Rogers Park shelter and the West Side men who stay there.

There’s good news on the rules side, too. When City Council adopted phase 3 of the construction code modernization in June, it got rid of two restrictions on shelters:

  • Shelters could not provide regular medical care on site.
  • Guests could stay a maximum of six months.

(That’s the same code update that allowed interlocking stairs in taller buildings than before, and exterior egress stairs on four-story apartment buildings, up from three stories.)

The sidewalk didn’t get the memo

I was disappointed by the sidewalk between the shelter and the Pink Line and the Western Avenue bus. It’s cracked and overgrown, next to a vacant lot. The guests here are going to walk to transit, and the walk should be a decent one.

cracked concrete and overgrown vegetation
a Pink Line train pulls into the Western station going toward the loop; a vacant lot is in the foreground

Let’s make affordable housing easier to build

Chicago needs a lot more shelters and SROs like this one, and the zoning code decides where they can go. I wrote last month about three ordinances that would decide whether Chicago’s lowest-cost housing gets easier or harder to build. Ald. Anthony Quezada’s ordinance would allow SROs and shelters by right on most commercial streets – often right next to transit, like this one. City Council fixed the building code for shelters this year. Now it should do the same for the zoning code by passing Quezada’s ordinance, and rejecting the other two.