Doug Schenkelberg
@endhomeless.bsky.social
Executive Director at Chicago Coalition to end Homelessness. Also a guy that runs and makes an occasional cocktail. Views are my own.
HUD is going make thousands of formerly homeless people homeless again through their funding and policy changes. We will see it in our shelters, in encampments, and in doubled-up households.
On Thursday, HUD announced it would overhaul its rules for funding homelessness programming. As a result, more than 8000 Illinoisans could be pushed out of their housing. My latest for @illinoisanswers.bsky.social illinoisanswers.org/2025/11/18/n...
New Federal Rules Could Put Formerly Unhoused People Back Out on The Streets Across Illinois
The Trump administration is slashing funds to help pay for housing for people in need, including those with mental illness or disabilities.
illinoisanswers.org
November 20, 2025 at 6:34 PM
HUD is going make thousands of formerly homeless people homeless again through their funding and policy changes. We will see it in our shelters, in encampments, and in doubled-up households.
Combine this horrible policy change with SNAP and Medicaid work requirements. With the coming loss of ACÁ insurance subsidie. With decimating funding for homeless youth in school. It adds up intentional cruelty and pain for people at the margins.
This is far worse than anyone expected.
Trump's HUD plan would cut *two-thirds* of permanent housing and push as many as 170,000 formerly homeless people back onto the street—redirecting funds to work mandates, forced treatment, and encampment sweeps.
All as mass internment camps are being built.
Trump's HUD plan would cut *two-thirds* of permanent housing and push as many as 170,000 formerly homeless people back onto the street—redirecting funds to work mandates, forced treatment, and encampment sweeps.
All as mass internment camps are being built.
Trump Administration to Drastically Cut Housing Grants
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Combine this horrible policy change with SNAP and Medicaid work requirements. With the coming loss of ACÁ insurance subsidie. With decimating funding for homeless youth in school. It adds up intentional cruelty and pain for people at the margins.
Reposted by Doug Schenkelberg
the @chicagoreader.com also put together know your rights resources for unhoused folks interacting with federal agents in chicago, based on the excellent information compiled by @chicagohomeless.bsky.social.
they're available in spanish: chicagoreader.com/news/conozca...
and english:
they're available in spanish: chicagoreader.com/news/conozca...
and english:
What to know if you’re unhoused and stopped by federal agents
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have targeted unhoused Chicagoans in recent months. Here's what to know about your rights.
chicagoreader.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:18 PM
the @chicagoreader.com also put together know your rights resources for unhoused folks interacting with federal agents in chicago, based on the excellent information compiled by @chicagohomeless.bsky.social.
they're available in spanish: chicagoreader.com/news/conozca...
and english:
they're available in spanish: chicagoreader.com/news/conozca...
and english:
I appreciate both @katieprout.bsky.social’s write-up and @brian-goldstone.bsky.social’sshout out to @chicagohomeless.bsky.social‘s workin his recent visit to Chicago to discuss his excellent book “There is No Place for Us.”
We can’t solve homelessness without first understanding its true scope.
We can’t solve homelessness without first understanding its true scope.
Profiting off precarity - Chicago Reader
There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America, by Brian Goldstone, is an account of five Black families forced into homelessness.
chicagoreader.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:16 PM
I appreciate both @katieprout.bsky.social’s write-up and @brian-goldstone.bsky.social’sshout out to @chicagohomeless.bsky.social‘s workin his recent visit to Chicago to discuss his excellent book “There is No Place for Us.”
We can’t solve homelessness without first understanding its true scope.
We can’t solve homelessness without first understanding its true scope.
Reposted by Doug Schenkelberg
With millions at risk of losing SNAP in the coming days, a reminder: hunger doesn't happen in isolation. When food assistance disappears, families use rent money to eat. Then come evictions and homelessness.
Housing, food, healthcare—it's all connected. Cut one thread and the whole thing unravels.
Housing, food, healthcare—it's all connected. Cut one thread and the whole thing unravels.
October 24, 2025 at 12:26 PM
With millions at risk of losing SNAP in the coming days, a reminder: hunger doesn't happen in isolation. When food assistance disappears, families use rent money to eat. Then come evictions and homelessness.
Housing, food, healthcare—it's all connected. Cut one thread and the whole thing unravels.
Housing, food, healthcare—it's all connected. Cut one thread and the whole thing unravels.
“Cruz’s friend, who is homeless, did not have legal status and was taken away by the feds.”
It’s almost an afterthought in this article. We have no idea how many unhoused folks have been taken.
It’s almost an afterthought in this article. We have no idea how many unhoused folks have been taken.
NEWS: ICE gave a Rogers Park man a $130 ticket for not having his papers on him. They rounded him up last week and eventually let him go, but not without a fine that some critics say is un-American. Trump admin enforcing little-used law
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/13/i...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/13/i...
ICE tickets Chicago man with legal residency $130 for not having his papers on him: ‘It’s not fair…I’m a resident’
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement fined Rueben Antonio Cruz $130 for not having his papers with him.
www.chicagotribune.com
October 13, 2025 at 5:38 PM
“Cruz’s friend, who is homeless, did not have legal status and was taken away by the feds.”
It’s almost an afterthought in this article. We have no idea how many unhoused folks have been taken.
It’s almost an afterthought in this article. We have no idea how many unhoused folks have been taken.
ICE has hit three homeless shelters in the last week. All shelters that were set up to serve migrants.
So they forced people to move to Chicago, Chicago stood up shelters to support migrants, and the feds use those shelters as targets for their kidnapping.
blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/01/b...
So they forced people to move to Chicago, Chicago stood up shelters to support migrants, and the feds use those shelters as targets for their kidnapping.
blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/01/b...
Bronzeville Homeless Shelter Residents 'Traumatized' After Feds Chase, Arrest 4 People
The federal agents arrived in unmarked minivans and detained four people outside a shelter run by a local church's charity Wednesday.
blockclubchicago.org
October 1, 2025 at 7:30 PM
ICE has hit three homeless shelters in the last week. All shelters that were set up to serve migrants.
So they forced people to move to Chicago, Chicago stood up shelters to support migrants, and the feds use those shelters as targets for their kidnapping.
blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/01/b...
So they forced people to move to Chicago, Chicago stood up shelters to support migrants, and the feds use those shelters as targets for their kidnapping.
blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/01/b...
Reposted by Doug Schenkelberg
Downtown Chicago, today.
The little girl …
The little girl …
September 28, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Downtown Chicago, today.
The little girl …
The little girl …
Reposted by Doug Schenkelberg
According to reporters on the ground, ICE is now **deliberately firing** what appears to be "non-lethals" at press at this morning's protest in Broadview, IL. One @unraveledpress.com reporter got hit.
Unraveled has been putting in serious work during this crisis--throw them some cash if you can.
Unraveled has been putting in serious work during this crisis--throw them some cash if you can.
ICE advanced again, started firing at photographers/press intentionally. Took a nasty lick to the face, unsure if pepper ball or rubber bullet.
September 26, 2025 at 2:21 PM
According to reporters on the ground, ICE is now **deliberately firing** what appears to be "non-lethals" at press at this morning's protest in Broadview, IL. One @unraveledpress.com reporter got hit.
Unraveled has been putting in serious work during this crisis--throw them some cash if you can.
Unraveled has been putting in serious work during this crisis--throw them some cash if you can.
Reposted by Doug Schenkelberg
NWSRR is now reporting ICE agents snatched two people at the migrant shelter near River Park this morning:
September 23, 2025 at 5:35 PM
NWSRR is now reporting ICE agents snatched two people at the migrant shelter near River Park this morning:
Reposted by Doug Schenkelberg
As I've said before, for a chronic, loggorrheic liar, Donald Trump can be shockingly honest, such as when he said at Charlie Kirk's funeral: "I hate my opponent, and I don't want the best for them.” That's why he wants to send the military into Chicago. Not to reduce crime, but to hurt the city.
September 22, 2025 at 12:26 PM
As I've said before, for a chronic, loggorrheic liar, Donald Trump can be shockingly honest, such as when he said at Charlie Kirk's funeral: "I hate my opponent, and I don't want the best for them.” That's why he wants to send the military into Chicago. Not to reduce crime, but to hurt the city.
Thanks to @chicagotribune.com for sharing @chicagohomeless.bsky.social & CFTEH‘s letter. No one wants people to have to sleep in parks or under viaducts or anywhere else unsheltered. Let’s come together around the solution - new revenue for permanent housing & service.
Letters: Sweeps of tent encampments will do nothing to alleviate homelessness in Chicago
A call for sweeps with a tone-deafness for service inadequacy will do nothing to decrease homelessness in Chicagoland.
www.chicagotribune.com
September 21, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Thanks to @chicagotribune.com for sharing @chicagohomeless.bsky.social & CFTEH‘s letter. No one wants people to have to sleep in parks or under viaducts or anywhere else unsheltered. Let’s come together around the solution - new revenue for permanent housing & service.
Reposted by Doug Schenkelberg
Truly outrageous. Erasing the evidence of mounting suffering won't make it go away.
It's just a matter of time before he cancels the annual homeless count.
It's just a matter of time before he cancels the annual homeless count.
September 21, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Truly outrageous. Erasing the evidence of mounting suffering won't make it go away.
It's just a matter of time before he cancels the annual homeless count.
It's just a matter of time before he cancels the annual homeless count.
Share with your networks. Direct, low barrier cash assistance works.
The Edrika Fulford Mutual Aid Fund reopens Oct 16 at 10 am!
400 applications will be accepted online or by phone, entered into a lottery & undergo review. Applying does not guarantee funding.
💻 chicagohomeless.org/MAF 📞📞 (312) 641-4148 (Mon-Fri, 10am - 2pm)
400 applications will be accepted online or by phone, entered into a lottery & undergo review. Applying does not guarantee funding.
💻 chicagohomeless.org/MAF 📞📞 (312) 641-4148 (Mon-Fri, 10am - 2pm)
September 16, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Share with your networks. Direct, low barrier cash assistance works.
Believing that homelessness is the result of ”individual choices” allows you to avoid discomfort and abdicate yourself of responsibility for contributing to systemic solutions.
The belief that poverty and homelessness are about "individual choices" didn't arise on its own. It was manufactured through decades of messaging designed to protect the policies and interests that create mass precarity.
As this new poll shows, that propaganda campaign has been wildly successful.
As this new poll shows, that propaganda campaign has been wildly successful.
Most US adults think individual choices keep people in poverty, new AP-NORC/Harris poll finds
A new AP-NORC poll finds that most U.S. adults think personal choices are a major driver of poverty and homelessness, while fewer blame a lack of government support.
apnews.com
September 9, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Believing that homelessness is the result of ”individual choices” allows you to avoid discomfort and abdicate yourself of responsibility for contributing to systemic solutions.
Reposted by Doug Schenkelberg
I found this post really helpful in wrapping my brain around the different agencies that might do Chicago raids.
The biggest takeaway: A lot of attention is on the the National Guard. But federal LEO's (ICE, FBI, etc.) can exert just as much (if not more) muscle & there's less to stop them.
The biggest takeaway: A lot of attention is on the the National Guard. But federal LEO's (ICE, FBI, etc.) can exert just as much (if not more) muscle & there's less to stop them.
September 4, 2025 at 2:46 PM
I found this post really helpful in wrapping my brain around the different agencies that might do Chicago raids.
The biggest takeaway: A lot of attention is on the the National Guard. But federal LEO's (ICE, FBI, etc.) can exert just as much (if not more) muscle & there's less to stop them.
The biggest takeaway: A lot of attention is on the the National Guard. But federal LEO's (ICE, FBI, etc.) can exert just as much (if not more) muscle & there's less to stop them.
Reposted by Doug Schenkelberg
My column on the front page of the Sun-Times today:
My original headline was "Flash! Crime terror (doesn't) grip Kill City!" But my editor thought that might confuse people. I liked "Kill City" myself.
www.everygoddamnday.com/2025/09/flas...
My original headline was "Flash! Crime terror (doesn't) grip Kill City!" But my editor thought that might confuse people. I liked "Kill City" myself.
www.everygoddamnday.com/2025/09/flas...
Flash! Crime terror doesn't grip Chicago
The blog of Neil Steinberg
www.everygoddamnday.com
September 3, 2025 at 1:08 PM
My column on the front page of the Sun-Times today:
My original headline was "Flash! Crime terror (doesn't) grip Kill City!" But my editor thought that might confuse people. I liked "Kill City" myself.
www.everygoddamnday.com/2025/09/flas...
My original headline was "Flash! Crime terror (doesn't) grip Kill City!" But my editor thought that might confuse people. I liked "Kill City" myself.
www.everygoddamnday.com/2025/09/flas...
Reposted by Doug Schenkelberg
A Labor Day reminder: today there isn't a single city, metro area, or state in the U.S. where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest 2-bedroom apartment.
Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.
Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.
Opinion | America Is Pushing Its Workers Into Homelessness
www.nytimes.com
September 1, 2025 at 11:54 AM
A Labor Day reminder: today there isn't a single city, metro area, or state in the U.S. where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest 2-bedroom apartment.
Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.
Millions of people with jobs—even multiple jobs—aren't safe from homelessness in this country.
We prepared this Know Your Rights card in partnership with All Chicago to support the unsheltered on the coming weeks. We also created a phone line to answer question and help direct people to resources.
We are going to do all we can to protect people in this moment of threat.
We are going to do all we can to protect people in this moment of threat.
🚨 Information Card: Know Your Rights as an Unsheltered Person - Federal Enforcement in Chicago // Conozca sus derechos como persona experimentando falta de vivienda: Aplicación de la ley federal en Chicago chicagohomeless.org/outreach/
August 31, 2025 at 2:45 PM
We prepared this Know Your Rights card in partnership with All Chicago to support the unsheltered on the coming weeks. We also created a phone line to answer question and help direct people to resources.
We are going to do all we can to protect people in this moment of threat.
We are going to do all we can to protect people in this moment of threat.
@chicagohomeless.bsky.social and our partners are doing everything we can to ensure the safety of those experiencing homelessness
City officials are working with the anti-homelessness nonprofit organization All Chicago to help prepare encampment communities located in places like parks and underpasses, for the possible deployment of the National Guard and other federal agents.
Chicago housing groups brace for possible sweeps of homeless encampments by the National Guard
The White House says it has cleared dozens of homeless encampments in D.C. Housing advocates say they want to be prepared if troops come to Chicago.
trib.al
August 30, 2025 at 2:46 PM
@chicagohomeless.bsky.social and our partners are doing everything we can to ensure the safety of those experiencing homelessness
Reposted by Doug Schenkelberg
We are aware of reports that the Trump Administration may deploy federal troops to Chicago soon. We know that this may directly impact Chicagoans experiencing homelessness and many people—including us—are concerned and afraid of what might happen.
Pentagon planning military deployment to Chicago in coming weeks, report says
The Washington Post reported Saturday that Defense Department officials have been planning for weeks to deploy federal troops to Chicago.
chicago.suntimes.com
August 24, 2025 at 7:07 PM
We are aware of reports that the Trump Administration may deploy federal troops to Chicago soon. We know that this may directly impact Chicagoans experiencing homelessness and many people—including us—are concerned and afraid of what might happen.
Reposted by Doug Schenkelberg
The fastest-growing homeless population in America? School-age children.
Last year, student homelessness in California—where rents continue to soar past wages—rose by 20,000, reaching its highest level in a decade.
But sure, keep insisting homelessness is all about mental illness and addiction.
Last year, student homelessness in California—where rents continue to soar past wages—rose by 20,000, reaching its highest level in a decade.
But sure, keep insisting homelessness is all about mental illness and addiction.
California’s hidden homeless children: living in garages, doubled-up and unseen
Student homelessness in Monterey county soars as families struggle with high rent and scarce housing amid funding cuts
www.theguardian.com
August 18, 2025 at 2:09 PM
The fastest-growing homeless population in America? School-age children.
Last year, student homelessness in California—where rents continue to soar past wages—rose by 20,000, reaching its highest level in a decade.
But sure, keep insisting homelessness is all about mental illness and addiction.
Last year, student homelessness in California—where rents continue to soar past wages—rose by 20,000, reaching its highest level in a decade.
But sure, keep insisting homelessness is all about mental illness and addiction.
Reposted by Doug Schenkelberg
Talked to kid who has first job out of undergrad helping folks on Medicaid w/ serious healthcare issues. Said something to me like "they all have housing issues, unstable, unsafe housing...so much of it tied to housing"
Housing instability is a cause, not just a symptom, of so many problems.
Housing instability is a cause, not just a symptom, of so many problems.
August 16, 2025 at 4:12 AM
Talked to kid who has first job out of undergrad helping folks on Medicaid w/ serious healthcare issues. Said something to me like "they all have housing issues, unstable, unsafe housing...so much of it tied to housing"
Housing instability is a cause, not just a symptom, of so many problems.
Housing instability is a cause, not just a symptom, of so many problems.
Which underlines the reality that this president doesn’t care about solving homelessness. He just wants to hide it.
A President who wanted to solve homelessness would draw a straight line between this news & more unhoused people. Then they would find ways to increase rental assistance, stabilize rent costs & increase supply. That would be solution oriented.
www.redfin.com/news/rental-...
www.redfin.com/news/rental-...
U.S. Apartment Asking Rents Post Biggest Increase in 2.5 Years
The median asking rent rose 1.7% year over year to $1,790 in July. Shrinking supply may be tilting the balance of power toward landlords.
www.redfin.com
August 15, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Which underlines the reality that this president doesn’t care about solving homelessness. He just wants to hide it.
Reposted by Doug Schenkelberg
UPDATE: Unlawful arrests and forced displacement of homeless D.C. residents expected to begin this morning at 10 AM with federal and local police throwing away tents at 62 encampments; arrests are expected to begin at nightfall to avoid media attention.https://buff.ly/gRAsxWS
Unlawful arrests and forced displacement of homeless D.C. residents expected today
Advocates in D.C. expect the Trump administration to begin the illegal and inhumane jailing and institutionalization of homeless Washingtonians this morning at 10 A.M. The White House stated in…
housingnothandcuffs.org
August 14, 2025 at 1:58 PM
UPDATE: Unlawful arrests and forced displacement of homeless D.C. residents expected to begin this morning at 10 AM with federal and local police throwing away tents at 62 encampments; arrests are expected to begin at nightfall to avoid media attention.https://buff.ly/gRAsxWS