An Increasing Face Among the Homeless: Children
According to the U.S. Department of Education, “homelessness among public school students increased by nearly 10 percent in the 2021-2022 school year” and is up 77 percent since 2006-07.
By Grace Beyer
A NEARLY EMPTY CHARCOAL-COLORED backpack pressed up against the street corner walls that served as a pillow. A tattered, white bed sheet did little to block out the morning sunshine, which spilled between metal beams outside the J. Ira and Nikki Harris Family Hostel on Ida B. Wells Drive and Wabash Avenue.
Perhaps the human figure beneath it was a daughter or son, mom or dad, sister or brother coiled up underneath the thin sheath. That was not discernible. But whoever it was, their feet and body peeked out—the sheet too thin, too small to serve as a sufficient shield.
On that recent frigid spring day, footsteps passed by. Hundreds of them perhaps. Men and women rolled their suitcases through the breezeway after departing from the hostel. Some scrolling on their phones, others fixed their eyes on the crosswalk ahead.
It is not an uncommon scene in this world-class city, where according to the city of Chicago estimates, at least 6,139 people experienced homelessness in 2023. It is an issue exacerbated by an influx of thousands of migrants that have left homeless shelters across the city filled to capacity and caused Chicago officials to create shelters for the unhoused, though still leaving many of those in need of shelter out in the cold.
It is a crisis that some advocates like Father Michael L. Pfleger, say goes far beyond race and reaches instead to the heart of humanity and a societal obligation to help even the least of these.
“Whether you’re black, whether you’re brown, whether you’re white, whether you’re young, whether you’re old… for anybody that doesn’t have any type of stable housing in this country…we have an obligation as a country,” says Pfleger, senior pastor of The Faith Community of St. Sabina.
EARLIER THIS YEAR, PFLEGER and St. Sabina held a protest advocating against the Democratic National Convention being held in Chicago this summer unless President Joe Biden provides federal funding to deal with the homelessness crisis confronting Chicago.
“And that’s why we keep hoping and praying that faith communities will drive this home from their pulpits, whatever their faith is, so that it puts pressure on the government.”
Increasingly those in need, say observers, activists and analysts, are children.
“The face of homelessness has been hidden for decades because the face of homelessness is actually the face of a child,” said Michael Nameche, director of development at Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.
In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Education, “homelessness among public school students increased by nearly 10 percent in the 2021-2022 school year” and is up 77 percent since the 2006-2007 school year. Moreover, in the 2019-2020 school year, the National Center for Homeless Education recorded more than 1.2 million public school students experiencing homelessness.
The 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress concluded: “The overall number of people in families with children who were experiencing homelessness on a single night increased by more than 25,000 people (or 16%) between 2022 and 2023.” That number reflects a 17 percent increase in the number of families with children experiencing sheltered homelessness—at least 24,966 more people. In fact, children under 18 made up 56 percent, or 108,190 children, of those experiencing homelessness in families in 2023, according to the report.
The crisis of the unhoused and how to effectively deal with continues to raise concerns across from Chicago to Florida to California, where according to a recent report by the Public Policy Institute of California, the total number of people experiencing homelessness in 2023 rose to nearly 185,000.
That report concluded that “reducing homelessness likely requires a broad range of short- and long-term strategies that address local conditions." It added that in March, Californians passed “a ballot measure aimed at addressing key issues related to homelessness—including expanding supportive housing and treatment for substance abuse and mental illness.”
RECOGNITION OF THE NEED for new measures to deal with homelessness is also apparent in Jacksonville, Florida, where Beth Wilson, the director of programs and clothing manager at Downtown Ecumenical Services Council, a faith-based organization that provides food, clothing, and resources for families and individuals experiencing hardship, has long come face to face with the issue.
“It’s multifaceted. Just putting them in a shelter or temporary home is not the fix,” Wilson said in a telephone interview. “It’s not just a one answer … problem.”
Wilson recalls similar challenges across her 15-year tenure.
“A lot of the same people are still homeless from 15 years ago,” she said. “Some of them have some mental health issues that need to be addressed, some of them have some addictions that need to be addressed… If you can get them into some housing, you’ve got to have some kind of plan to keep them in housing.”
Among the related crucial issues that need to be addressed, according to Wilson, are job training, disability assistance, employment opportunities, health care, and the need to provide other resources to permanently help people sustain their income and expenses once moving off the streets.
She cited a current initiative in Jacksonville called, “Changing Homelessness” that aims to get people off the street within 30 days. But she knows that that isn’t enough.
“If they don’t have the resources available—some kind of job training, some kind of employment opportunity, some kind of partnership to look at their health situation. You know, let’s address some health issues that are going on.”
MEANWHILE, IN CHICAGO, MORE than 1,000 miles from Jacksonville, organizations like the Covenant House aim to provide these resources and services, specifically targeting the youth population experiencing homelessness.
Jenn Buchanan, the youth engagement specialist at the Chicago Covenant House, works to provide clothes, food, and resources for boys, girls, men, and women aged 18-24.
“We do three meals a day, and then we have laundry services, showers, a clothing closet, case managers, and employment specialists,” she said.
Regarding youth homelessness, however, she sees that more work needs to be done.
“I think [youth homelessness] is pretty bad. I think it is underserved as well,” she added.
Across downtown, there is the sight of people begging for food. Of families bunched beneath layers of clothing in hopes of keeping their children warm. The sight of tiny hands and feet bundled up. The face of a child.
Email: gracebeyer12@gmail.com
OTHER RELATED STORIES BY GRACE BEYER:
'Hidden In Plain Sight, But I See'
Eyeing A Brighter Future, Chicago HOPES For Kids
When The City Turns Cold, Homeless Families Seek A Refuge
