Activists gathered Thursday morning at a homeless encampment in the Fulton Market area to protest the removal of winterized tents that had been tagged by the city warning occupants that the tents had to be cleared for a street cleaning scheduled today.
Late Wednesday, officials from the Department of Family and Support Services told the Tribune that the tents would not need to be cleared for the scheduled cleaning and only be required to be moved for “deep cleanings.”
Advertisement
The protesters, however, still gathered Thursday at the site under the Metra bridge on Milwaukee Avenue and then marched to city hall with plans to deliver a letter to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, requesting a meeting to discuss the city’s homelessness crisis. The crowd, which grew to nearly 40 people, held signs demanding “no eviction” and “permanent houses + mental health services” and chanted, “Housing a human right” and “Leave the tents alone or give the people a home!”
The protesters were turned away by city hall security.
Advertisement
The 10 bright orange heated tents, which include a foundation, heating and lighting, arrived under two weeks ago through the efforts of Andy Robledo, founder of the nonprofit Feeding People Through Plants. Just days after assembling the tents, the city slapped red notices on them, alerting people that they must remove the shelters from the premises before the cleaning.
Robledo previously told the Tribune that the tents assembly and supplies cost between $350 and $500 and are not easy to take down.
“I don’t want people living in tents here as much as they do,” Robledo said at the time. “I want them in housing, and that’s where we need to shift our energies, not to fighting the homeless, but in fighting homelessness together.”
