Homeless shelter on Chicago’s North Side offering first-of-its-kind dorm room model
By Dana Kozlov
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CHICAGO (WBBM) — A North Side shelter is using a first-of-its-kind dorm room model to bring stability and restored dignity to men who are homeless.
Shelter leaders said providing clients with their own personal space offers much more than a place to sleep inside a former Rogers Park medical clinic.
“It’s just a stepping stone. It’s just a place to help me move forward in life,” Resident Ray Smith said.
Instead of sleeping in a large room on cots like other men’s shelters, the residents share a room with one other person.
“It’s that sense of living a normal life is a motivator to get these gentlemen to think, I want this for myself. I’m gonna get a job, I’m going to get my own apartment, I’m going to live like this for the rest of my life,” Peter Marchese, North Side Housing Board president, said.
That’s Smith’s goal. He arrived with two duffel bags almost a year ago.
“You have all your belongings. You can leave it here. You can work. You can do what you need to do,” Smith said.
Marchese said shelter staff and programs help. There’s laundry, three meals a day, medical care, financial counseling, art therapy all in a trauma-conscious environment that includes muted colors and skylights.
“We work with each of our clients to develop a plan to successfully transition out of shelter,” Marchese said. “As long as they’re working on it, each of our clients, they are welcome to stay.”
Out of prison for two years now, Martin Bendik
“It’s like a unity, like a brotherhood. It’s supposed to be like family, struggle together, to try to help each other out,” Bendik said.
The shelter has already housed over 150 clients since opening in December. First backed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and then Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration, Marchese says it will be the city’s model going forward.
Marchese says Bendik is about to move to Wisconsin next month, to start his next chapter.
While this shelter just opened its doors in December, Marchese says the city is planning to convert four other shelters to this dorm-type model in the next couple of years.
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