Reporting and analysis of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
A heavy, three-meter-high black wrought iron fence now surrounds what was once Chicago’s most conspicuous homeless camp.
The massive barrier was erected in time for the Democratic National Convention and appears to be so impressive that it will deter its former residents from ever again setting up camp on the several-block-long, shaded area between 1100 S. Desplaines St. and the Dan Ryan Expressway.
Residents of the encampment, previously one of the city’s largest “tent cities,” were evacuated on July 17 and told to move to a city-run shelter in the former Tremont Hotel west of the Magnificent Mile. About 30 people had been living in the tent city for the past few weeks. That same day, a 5- to 6-foot-high wire mesh barrier was erected as a temporary closure.
A Mayor Brandon Johnson’s top adviser said she orchestrated the move ahead of the DNC in case federal officials have security concerns about this. The timing prompted one of the mayor’s ally to describe the move as a plan to “hide Chicago’s homeless.” But Johnson later denied that the closure had anything to do with the DNC and said his administration had treated the homeless with dignity.
A heavy, ten-foot-high black metal fence now surrounds what was once Chicago’s most conspicuous homeless camp on Desplaines Street.
Lauren FitzPatrick/Sun-Times
City officials could not immediately say Monday how much the wrought iron costs or why it is so much higher than the other fences along the highway.
But the impact of the wall prompted a neighbor who now lives in a tent a few blocks south on the corner of 16th Street and Union to quip, “Build that wall.” He was adapting a popular Republican slogan designed to keep immigrants away from the American border.
It is not yet clear what a permanent solution for the former residents might look like.
“My whole thing with the DNC was that it seemed like they were giving us a vacation from homelessness,” said the neighbor known as “Six-Nine,” who now lives in a tent a few blocks south at the corner of 16th and Union, where he feels “safe” and “peaceful.” “When Tremont closes, people will go back to where they know them.”
But the warehouse in Desplaines is no longer accessible. The fence has been up for several weeks and no one can get in, said longtime business owner Gregg Fishman of Fishman’s Fabrics, 1101 S. Desplaines.
The Department of Family and Support Services did not immediately provide an update on the Tremont home.
The department has also asked people living in tents along the North Branch of the Chicago River between Foster and Bryn Mawr and along Canalport to move to the Tremont or other shelters for the summer.
At the corner of 19th Street and Canalport, under the Dan Ryan Expressway, only five tents remain, along with a supply of trash cans and a portable toilet.
On Monday morning, a man near the encampment at the corner of 19th Street and Ruble Avenue asked drivers for change. He said he was living in a nearby private residence but was having trouble finding long-term housing. He didn’t want to say much to the politicians who are coming to town for the party convention.
“I just want a dollar,” he said, holding a plastic coin container. “That’s all.”
