Word: chicago
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...Chicago Mayor Richard Daley really serious about his pledge to rid the Windy City of homelessness...
...Some observers weren't so sure after the battle over affordable housing played out between Daley and many of his doubters earlier this month in the Chicago City Council. On its face, the notion of requiring most new housing developments to reserve at least 10% of their space for people earning less than the city's median income of $75,000, as Daley and his backers proposed, would seem like a good idea. But while the ordinance would create an estimated 1,000 new affordable housing units each year, critics say it isn't nearly enough to help Daley fulfill...
...city dressed up with flowers and new parks and without a man or woman or kid in need - but lacks a workable way to fulfill it. "The city hasn't pledged its own wallet, and that pretty much makes it impossible," says Julie Dworkin, policy director at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Although $150 million was invested in the cause last year, and some $400 million has been pledged since the plan became public in 2003, critics point out there is no fixed price tag on Daley's plan. "Let's just say the number would most likely...
...applauds the effort to build more permanent housing, but says the stock of affordable housing is actually flattening or shrinking as rich developers gobble up empty space and redevelop once ramshackle areas of town. The study, released last fall, says Daley "grossly underestimates the demand for homeless services in Chicago," and charges that "thousands of people are likely to end up abandoned and only a limited number of people helped...
...coalition is now ramping up pressure on the Mayor by forming an alliance of homeless shelters and other service providers, such as the Chicago-based advocacy group United Power for Action & Justice, to keep the city from shuttering or cutting funding to shelters. The coalition is so worried that Daley's plan would cut aid that it is currently trying to work with Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich to squeeze $100 million out of an already tight state budget...