Ahead of the DNC, City Hall spent $814,000 on a fence to lock out homeless peoples

Hey, we can't have anyone mess up the narrative or social media posts coming out of the convention.

Ahead of the DNC, City Hall spent $814,000 on a fence to lock out homeless peoples

Reporting by Lauren FitzPatrick, Brett Chase and Elvia Malagón, Chicago Suntimes

Sept 6, 2024

DNC prep: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration spent more than $814,000 on a giant fence as part of an effort to shut down one of the city’s largest and most visible homeless encampments before the Democratic National Convention, City Hall records show.

On deadline: The massive barrier was part of the city's "emergency" effort to permanently lock out unhoused people from the location near the United Center, where the convention was held, records obtained by the Sun-Times show.

Why we know now: The Johnson administration had refused to say how much taxpayer money went toward blocking off the green strip of land between the 1100 block of South Desplaines Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway just north of Roosevelt Road until after the nationally televised gathering. The Sun-Times has been asking for those records, which should be public under state law, since July, when that tent city was cleared of its residents and the items they left behind.

City officials added "no trespassing" signs to the fence surrounding the former site of a tent city cleared before the Democratic National Convention. | Peyton Reich/Sun-Times

The numbers: The city spent $814,233.75 on the 10-foot-tall, powder-coated "ornamental iron fence" that spans 1,375 feet — a cost of $592.17 per foot. The barrier runs south on Desplaines, west on Roosevelt and north along the expressway’s exit ramp at Taylor Street. It was installed just inside a 5- to 6-foot-tall chain-link fence put up in July as a temporary barrier.

Key context: On July 17, the encampment’s last residents were moved out and encouraged to go to a city-run shelter in the former Tremont Hotel, at 100 E. Chestnut St., while working to get permanent housing. As of late August, 49 people were staying at the hotel shelter.

Advocates decry cost: "Why are we investing in a fence," asked Monica Dillon, a registered nurse and member of the Northwest Side Homeless Outreach Volunteers, "rather than something that could save their lives?" Dillon said the money spent blocking off the Desplaines Street site could have been used to "help improve the city’s extreme weather winter response plan."