Chicago Union of the Homeless

10/07/2022

Gathering at RiseUpTown tomorrow night! Please follow to stay connected to our communities continuing fight against luxury housing!

We believe the strongest parts of the occupation at the parking lot and the days since then, have been music and community time together. We will be hosting a Riseuptown Tent Party every Friday of October in Uptown.

Inspired by a rent party originating in Harlem during the 1920s, These parties were a means for black tenants to eat, dance, and get away from everyday hardship and discrimination by hosting community gatherings where tenants have music and performances to play and pass the hat to raise money to pay their rent.

These tent parties serve the same purpose to our unhoused neighbors living in tents in Uptown - as a fundraising opportunity for people to donate funds to RiseUptown specifically (venmo/cashapp RiseUptown46), bring in supplies/resources each week that are reoccurring needs and other needs that will be updated weekly. These gatherings will bring visibility to the issues we’re fighting for and create intentional community space.

This is a PARTY so bring some instruments to jam, bring some food/drinks to share if you can, or just come hang around the fire and get to know your neighbors ✊

Let us know if you, a group, or anyone you know would like to perform at any of the Fridays coming up. We’ll have some skillshare workshops in the next coming weeks as well! Peace y’all ✌️

09/16/2022

We are not against the restoration of the land and believe in restoring the natural beauty that the native plants brought. We have taken the first steps in restoring the native plants and hope to continue and prove that like the indigenous people of this land, we too can live with nature and let nature and ourselves thrive.

The city, on the other hand, claims to have the desire to restore the indigenous plants and create a bird sanctuary but so far all they have done is remove those of us trying to live with the land.

09/08/2022

In the park across from Weiss hospital, on the corner of Wilson & marine dr, , the houseless community continues the fight against Chicago developers & city services. With the threat of a second eviction this Friday, this time in the name of the “Uptown Coastal Natural Area,” department of family support services), responsible for homeless services, has offered park residents access only to emergency shelters and a week’s hotel voucher for only 3 of nearly 20 residents. Despite earlier promises of more adequate alternatives to the park and pathways to housing, today, DFSS workers provided scant options and few resources for residents.

In response, , tomorrow September 8th at 12pm, is offering a day of community based social services such as housing assessments from volunteer assessors & more.

We continue to demand permanent housing & supports for everyone facing displacement in the park, the city and across the world.

09/06/2022

RiseUpTown will hold a rally and eviction defense tomorrow morning, when construction on a perimeter fence for a nature preserve is set to begin, thereby displacing over 10 people currently residing in the park.

09/06/2022

09/02/2022

: We Are Still Here!
Day 12 — Sep 1, 2022

To the people of Uptown, Chicago, and all people struggling for basic human rights and dignity everywhere:

We, a community of neighbors, housing activists, and people experiencing homelessness, had since August 21 been occupying the land at Wilson and Marine Drive in Chicago’s Uptown Neighborhood, which for many years has served as an expansion area for Weiss Memorial Hospital, but is currently slated for the construction of a luxury apartment high-rise by Lincoln Property Company.

Yesterday morning, shortly before 8am, over a dozen police officers arrived to swiftly carry out Lincoln Property’s dirty work: they evicted our camp, damaged our tents and canopies, and arrested and cited three of us on charges of criminal trespassing. (We would like to again point out the irony that Lincoln Property began this construction project before being issued any of the needed permits.) We maintain that the real criminals here are the owners of Lincoln Property, the gentrifiers who only see land as a commodity to exploit for profit and care nothing for rent-burdened families in Uptown who are being driven from their homes by this process, or houseless communities who are being harassed and chased off by municipal agencies that are supposed to serve the people but serve only capital. In a real sense, the owners of Lincoln Property are simply among the latest group of settlers to steal this land from people who were here first and called it home, in a long history of displacement on this land that goes back over two hundred years when Europeans began to settle this area by forcing out the Potawatomi and other peoples who lived and thrived along this lake.

Read the full communiqué, linked in our bio.

Still standing strong,

09/01/2022

09/01/2022

08/31/2022

Rally at 10 here at Wilson and Clarendon, March to Capplemans office 10:30, join us!

08/31/2022

: Mayor and City Council: Deny the permits!
Day 11 — Aug 31, 2022

To Mayor Lori Lightfoot, to the Chicago City Council, and especially to Ald. James Cappleman,

You have the power to stop this harmful development. All you have to do is tell the Department of Buildings to deny the permits that Lincoln property is currently seeking for construction. According to City records, no permits have been issued yet, but this has not stopped Lincoln Property from beginning its construction project, including putting up a 10-foot fence with concrete barriers around the perimeter of the entire lot, except for the small area around the gate we have liberated at the southwest corner, where we stopped construction by placing our bodies in the way. So at this point, we have actually only been enforcing the City’s very own process. You’re welcome. But now that we have your attention, and the attention of the people of Uptown and Chicago who overwhelmingly have shown their support for our cause (as most of us are in a common struggle for improved access to decent housing and healthcare), we would like to remind you of your responsibilities in this situation, and that we also have placed certain demands on you.

Deny the permits. Stop acting as the pawns of the big developers and gentrifiers who care nothing for Chicago or its people, but act only for their profit motive. Bring our coalition to the table where we can discuss what it might look like to use this land for the benefit of all of Uptown‘s people.

Till then, we will continue to occupy this land in the name of the people, continue to build support for our cause, and continue to make so much noise with our righteous anger and revolutionary joy that you will not be able to ignore us.

Sincerely,

08/30/2022

Reposting w/ the correct Venmo! Sorry bout that!

: We Survived the Storm!
Day 9

To all of our comrades, friends, and supporters in Chicago and beyond,

We just want to let you know that we survived the severe thunderstorm today. No one was hurt. We only lost material items.

The 60+mph winds blew the entire structure of our kitchen (3 10X10 canopies tied together) completely off the ground! Even after preparing for the weather, we learned some tough lessons about camping on a wide open pavement space next to the lake. In the end, we lost 4 of our canopies (a few hundred dollars worth of resources), but otherwise saved most of the camp’s infrastructure.

Our community responded immediately with on-the-ground assistance as well as a burst of donations, showing that the people believe in our efforts and want us to continue. We regrouped, shared pizza as we rebuilt camp, and are ready to go into Day 10 of our occupation!

May the tents of our small but resilient resistance camp be a reminder to all passers-by that we can survive the storms of “urban renewal,” neoliberalism, and revolution, if we show up to offer what we can and work collectively in common purpose. And we can rebuild the world as we will.

See you tomorrow,

08/30/2022

Full series of our communiques linked in our bio

: We Embody Possibility
Day 10 – Aug 30, 2022

To the people of Uptown, Chicago, and all people struggling for basic human rights and dignity everywhere:

We, a community of neighbors, housing activists, and people experiencing homelessness, are occupying the land at Wilson and Marine Drive in Chicago’s Uptown Neighborhood, which for many years has served as a parking lot for Weiss Memorial Hospital, but is currently slated for the construction of a luxury apartment high-rise by Lincoln Property Company. We are asking all people of conscience to support our struggle to stop this harmful development in the name of affordable housing, healthcare, and the community of Uptown.

Our basic demand is simple. It was first made by a broad coalition of community organizations who have been fighting this gentrification project for over two years: we want the new owners of the hospital to immediately use their more-than-adequate resources to buy back the parking lot and put it to use for expanded medical services. The hospital used this space to expand their services for COVID testing in 2020. Imagine all the other ways in which this land could be put to use to increase the hospital’s capacity to meet the healthcare needs of the people: a trauma center, a drop-in clinic, a harm reduction center, etc.

Beyond this simple demand, we can imagine many more ways the land could be used for the good of the whole community. While we have been referring to these grounds as a “parking lot,” even that language can limit our imaginations of what this land is and could become. It could become an outpost where our houseless neighbors and others could receive healthcare and housing services, or a community garden, or a park or a public event space, or free/affordable housing – or maybe even all of the above!

Join us here at !