CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Some local advocates for the homeless are calling on Mayor Lightfoot to use some of Chicago’s federal relief funding to help ensure more people don’t end up on the street.
"We need a long term solution," said Ashley Harris with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.
The city is expected to receive nearly $2 billion in discretionary funds, and if Ashley Harris with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless gets her way, some of that money will be used to address homelessness.
“We just want to create more housing,” she said. “We would have more wraparound services, which would help people battling mental illness, people who need to get in key jobs. It would get them the resources that they need so they can keep their houses and don’t end up homeless again.”
Harris said more than 77,000 Chicagoans were already experiencing homelessness before the pandemic; making it a problem Mayor Lightfoot must address.
“I just feel like you need to manage how you’re spending your funds," she said. "We really want her to use that towards homelessness, but also we would like her to create a dedicated revenue stream so we can continue having housing in the City of Chicago for people who are struggling."
Mayor Lightfoot has indicated that the funding will mainly be used to pay down Chicago’s debt. Harris called that unfortunate.
"Be careful how you are spending the funds, because you talk about how Chicago's in debt, but you gave the police department over $285 million in funding," Harris said.
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