CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) --With a cold snap passing through the area this week, community organizations will be increasing their outreach efforts on the streets, hoping to reach both the homeless and recently- arrived migrant populations.
As temperatures fall into the 20’s and teens, even colder weather is expected through the next week.
Arriving to Chicago less than a week ago, biding her time now on a CTA warming bus parked at Chicago’s designated migrant landing center in the West Loop, A young woman named Nori told WBBM that she has brought her children from Venezuela to the United States in search of a better life.
She is one of about 140 newly-arrived migrants that are still awaiting shelter placement.
Nori and her family are not cold on the buses, but she said that food is sparce and hunger is now a major concern. She has lived on a bus now for about a week- adding that she has not been told when her situation might change.
On the north end of the West Loop, tents have returned to viaducts. In mid-December, tents that had served as shelter for people experiencing homelessness in the West Loop were removed. Many of the occupants have since returned, setting up new shelter.
Many were huddled together inside the tents with a large open flame in the center of at least one tent.
A young woman passed between the camp at Clinton and Lake to the one a block over on Milwaukee, chiming for anyone to hear that she’s got "rigs" if anyone has drugs- using the term rig in reference to hypodermic needles.
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