Elgin police officers and social service staff walked through the eight-acre homeless encampment along the Fox River this week, letting the people who live there know about the city’s plans to relocate them to a hotel this winter and assessing their needs.
Police Chief Ana Lalley accompanied them Tuesday, stressing that no one would be entering any structures in the area known locally as “tent city.”
“We want to respect their area and their privacy,” Lalley said.
The officers and members of the police department’s Collaborative Crisis Services Unit had a list of questions to ask in order to determine what each person needed and explained what would be happening in the next two weeks as the city prepares to relocate them to Lexington Inn and Suites at 1585 Dundee Ave.
So far, residents have been receptive to the outreach, Lalley said. It’s helped that officers already have relationships with some of the residents there and that social workers were invited to accompany them, she said.
A green flag was place at every structure where they were able to speak to someone. A red flag designated that no one was home when they tried to make contact. The canvassing will continue until Jan. 17, and officers are visiting at a variety of times in order to reach everyone, officials said.
The relocation process is to start the week of Jan. 20.
Tent city has existed for decades, but two recent fires underscored the dangerous conditions that exist there now. Elgin officials have created a plan through which the residents will be moved and the encampment torn down, the later of which will cost the city $2.5 million.
Among those packing up Tuesday for the future move was resident Tommy Parr, who currently resides in an incline area near the Metra train tracks.
He’s lived at the encampment for three years, he said, and acknowledged that “things got out of control” over the last year.
Part of the problem, Parr said, was an influx of South American immigrants, which led to an expansion of tent city’s boundaries and caused some tension.
Emmanuel Keyes, a longtime Elgin resident, started living at the encampment six months ago following the death of his child’s mother. “Things kind of fell apart,” said Keyes, who stays at the site and goes to work during the day.
Keyes found tent city residents had formed their own little community. “It had bylaws for the safety of everyone living here,” he said. “You can come and go as you like as long as you don’t bother anybody.”
Some residents are moving; some don’t want to, Keyes said. “Some have been here longer and have put up buildings and are reluctant to leave,” he said.
Elgin’s effort to help those living there is commendable, he said, but he’s concerned about whether residents will be able to find new housing once their stay at the hotel ends in the spring. There’s a housing shortage, and that could make it difficult to find a place to live, he said.
Tent city residents may migrate back to the site because “this is a safe zone for a lot of people,” Keyes said.
City officials don’t want that to happen. Fencing is to go up around the site once it’s cleared and anyone found on the land could be charged with trespassing, officials said.
