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The Tribune first reported on the situation at O’Hare in January, sharing 77-year-old Norbert Pikula’s story as one of the many homeless people who spend their nights at one of the country’s busiest airports.
Amid a growing population of homeless people taking refuge in Chicago’ O’Hare International Airport, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city won’t allow unhoused people to sleep at the airports anymore.
A Chicago man finally has a home, thanks to generous donations from over 400 strangers.
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Advocates for the homeless say there are three realities facing the population right now: the number of beds in homeless shelters decreased at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and never restored, migrants who have recently arrived in Chicago are increasingly using homeless shelters as well, and homeless shelters across the city are overwhelmed.
While sheltering at the airport isn’t new, the steadily increasing number of people doing it is.