Momentum: 35 Years of Housing Action

35 Years of Housing Action
from tree man to karaoke
challenges: getting creative
to address homelessness
JULIE DWORKIN
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (founding organization) | Housing Action Illinois Board Member from 2001–2007
Julie Dworkin (right) at the launch party for Housing Action Illinois’ new name
Julie Dworkin (at podium) addresses press during It Takes a Home to Raise a Child campaign
DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT DISPLACEMENT:
IF I DRESS LIKE A TREE, WILL YOU CARE
ABOUT ME?
My first experience working with Housing Action Illinois (Statewide
Housing Action Coalition at the time) was on our South Loop
Campaign for Development Without Displacement. The goal of the
campaign was to get the city to invest in affordable housing in the
South Loop. The mayor at the time, Richard M. Daley, had moved
to the area to live in new department called “Central Station”
and the city was investing tons of Tax Increment Financing (TIF)
dollars into upscale housing, but no affordable housing. It was
1996, leading up to the Democratic Convention in Chicago, and
the mayor was spending millions of dollars planting tons of trees
and flowers in the middle of streets downtown to spruce up the city
while chasing homeless people off of Lower Wacker Drive.
We came up with the idea to create a “Tree Man” who would
plague Mayor Daley at public events leading up to the convention
wearing a sign saying, “If I dress like a tree, will you care about
me?” Marc Jolin, an intern at SHAC (who later went on to head
up the Joint Office of Homeless Services in Portland) created the
costume for the Tree Man—a burlap sack to cover the person’s
face while providing visibility with tree branches coming out the
top. This was one of the most fun and creative actions I have
been a part of in my time at Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
(CCH). It culminated with us planting a tree in the middle of
Wabash Avenue.
The campaign ended with the victory of city funding for two large
Single Room Occupancy (SRO) buildings in the South Loop and
preservation of some existing SROs.
IT TAKES A HOME TO RAISE A CHILD
In the late 90s, we decided to turn our attention to the state for our
housing advocacy. The state was flush with money at the time due
to the tech boom and actually had a budget surplus.
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