Comment to City Council about Bring Chicago Home

My name is Pip Paris, I’m a housing leader with  ONE Northside and I live in the 48th ward.

I was homeless for 6 weeks with my child who was 4 years old at the time, or over a year if you count doubling up.

What most people don’t realize about being homeless is how much work it is to do basic activities.

Even in my situation, which was better than some, basic survival questions consumed my mind every day:

Where will we sleep tonight?
Where will we brush our teeth?
Where will we poop?
How can we avoid dangerous people?

How can we avoid heat stroke?
How can we keep our clothes clean and dry, even in the rain?

The over 68,000 homeless people in Chicago deserve to have homes so that they can have safe and healthy lives. We need a revenue source to pay for affordable housing and wraparound services. I support Bring Chicago Home.

So many people like to shout at homeless people to “Get a Job” and ignore completely how hard that is even under the best of circumstances, and how hard it is when you don’t have a roof, shower, fridge, bed, electricity, running water or internet. When your whole being is focused on the next meal, on finding ways to get clean, there’s not a lot of capacity for hunting job vacancies, filling out applications, getting to an interview.

The solution to homelessness is housing. With housing, basic needs get easier to meet, and it becomes more possible to get all the other pieces together.

This city needs far more affordable housing. We need dedicated revenue to create affordable housing and supportive services for the more than 68,000 Chicagoans experiencing homelessness.

Bring Chicago Home creates exactly that, and without hurting regular working-class people. This small fee that is only on property sales over 1 million dollars will help people who are struggling to keep their heads under water, and the people who are paying these fees will barely be impacted.

Yesterday the rules committee voted to move this resolution forward. I am asking you to please put Bring Chicago Home on the ballot.