{"id":17800,"date":"2015-10-13T12:41:51","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T17:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=17800"},"modified":"2015-10-13T12:47:15","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T17:47:15","slug":"homeless-youth-activists-rally-against-budget-impass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/homeless-youth-activists-rally-against-budget-impass\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeless youth activists rally against budget impasse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 90%; color: gray;\"><em>By Kayla Daugherty<\/em><br \/>\n<em> Video by Ryan Connelly Holmes<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>James Ivory describes himself as many things: a college student, a musician, an activist and a father. But because of the social services he received through a homeless shelter, he no longer needs to include \u201chomeless\u201d in that list.<\/p>\n<p>Ivory is one of the thousands of Illinois youth who have found themselves on the street, without a place to eat, sleep or work. The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless reports that an estimated 20,205 Chicago Public Schools students were homeless during the 2014-2015 school year. They were among the 125,848 Chicagoans who were homeless during that period.<\/p>\n<p>Though Ivory is no longer homeless, the 25-year-old came to a recent rally at the Thompson Center in support of social services funding for homeless youth. The rally, sponsored by the Coalition, drew more than 100 individuals hoping to prove to Gov. Bruce Rauner that homelessness is a huge issue in Chicago and that his proposed social service budget cuts will harm people in dire need of help.<\/p>\n<p>Ivory, along with others who are still homeless, talked about their experiences on the streets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that the normal person doesn\u2019t understand what it\u2019s like to be really hungry,\u201d Ivory said. \u201cHunger, loneliness\u2014those things are very depressing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The young people who spoke showed that there is no one reason for homelessness. Some young men were kicked out of their homes after coming out as gay, bisexual or transgender. Some with criminal records said they had difficulty obtaining and keeping a steady job. Others just fell on hard times\u2014losing a job or being in a serious accident\u2014and were sent into a devastating downward spiral.<\/p>\n<h1>Upcoming vote to restore money<\/h1>\n<p>Illinois has gone four months without a state budget, and a vote is scheduled in the House on Senate Bill 2046, which would restore social service funding cut in Rauner\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Homeless youth activists rally against budget impasse\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/142278524?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div id=\"featurecaption\">(Ryan Connelly Holmes\/Medill)<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\nThe Senate bill passed in late September but now must be heard in the House on Oct. 20.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the political stakes, Representative Greg Harris (D-Chicago), a sponsor of the bill, and Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago) were present at the rally.<\/p>\n<p>The rally also included directors of shelters and transition houses.<\/p>\n<p>Flora Koppel, director of Unity Parenting and Counseling, an agency that runs shelters and transition houses, spoke at the event and brought the issue of finances front and center. She emphasized that while budget cuts might seem like a better solution to the state\u2019s fiscal problems now, the cuts will be more costly over the long term. For instance, Koppel referred to the cost for homeless youth, or children of homeless parents, who end up in the child welfare system\u2014an average of $48,320 a year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe cost [for] youth in a state psychiatric hospital, if they really fall apart and disintegrate under all the pressures, is $107,000 over a year,\u201d Koppel added.<\/p>\n<p>She also highlighted the costs of a scenario that is all too likely for homeless youth who might end up stealing to buy food: incarceration. Juvenile detention can cost up to $177,000 annually; Cook County Jail, $52,195 per year; and state prison, $38,268.<\/p>\n<p>In comparison, in fiscal year 2014, Illinois spent less than $2,000 per homeless youth for shelters, programs and other resources, Koppel said. According to her numbers, the cheapest option for the state of Illinois, other than to fund social services, is to pay to bury the homeless\u2014a cost of just over $1,000.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Harris praised the young people who came to the rally to let their voices be heard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is amazing and it just shows the power of democracy and the power of the youth in America today,\u201d Harris said. \u201cIt charges me up even more to go down and [try to] pass legislation tomorrow that will fund homeless youth, early intervention, child care, senior service, people with disabilities, and you know, all the other things people count on to live everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris is still determined to make the appropriations bill permanent. \u201cIt funds vital services like early intervention, childhood education and autism,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n<h1>\u201cA piecemeal bill\u201d<\/h1>\n<p>Rep. Steven Andersson (R-Geneva) was one of the legislators who voted against the bill. He said it\u2019s not because he doesn\u2019t see the need, but because he does not believe the bill will fix the problem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a piecemeal bill. The fact is that we are spending more money than we are taking in,\u201d Andersson said in a phone call. \u201cAs sensitive as I am to the situation, the reality is that we can\u2019t fund these programs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Andersson, who began serving his first term in January, was surprised by the lack of urgency some of his colleagues had about solidifying a state budget.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was expecting that we would get down in the weeds and figure this budget out. It was nothing close to that,\u201d he said. \u201cInterest groups and [committee] chairs came in a parade, telling me how important their programs were. I did not need that. I understand that those things are important. We should have been working on a budget since January 15, since we were signed in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Andersson referenced Chicago\u2019s significant debt, as well as the state\u2019s, and worries that the bill restoring funding would be just piling onto this debt. He feels that even if the bill eventually passes, there will not be enough money to fund the programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPassing [Senate Bill] 2046 gives people false hope,\u201d he said. \u201cPassing 2046 will not make them closer to their goals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If this appropriations bill is not the answer, lawmakers need to come up with another solution quickly: With winter approaching, the need for shelters and resources is growing.<\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: Rep. Greg Harris (left) and homeless youth activists gather at a rally in front of the James R. Thompson Center. (Ryan Connelly Holmes\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Kayla Daugherty Video by Ryan Connelly Holmes James Ivory describes himself as many things: a college student, a musician, an activist and a father. But because of the social services he received through a homeless shelter, he no longer needs to include \u201chomeless\u201d in that list. Ivory is one of the thousands of Illinois [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":17979,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-17800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-2015","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Homeless youth activists rally against budget impasse - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/homeless-youth-activists-rally-against-budget-impass\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Homeless youth activists rally against budget impasse - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kayla Daugherty Video by Ryan Connelly Holmes James Ivory describes himself as many things: a college student, a musician, an activist and a father. 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