My wife and I met Kim and Anthony six years ago. They were panhandling on the I-290 off-ramp at Harlem. My wife bought them water at Thornton’s gas station and gave it to them.

Later in the day she told me about her experience. It’s our policy not to give panhandlers money. Instead we give them $5 McDonald’s gift cards. My church was serving one meal a month at a Housing Forward shelter, so I suggested that they take advantage of that resource, but to my amazement they declined. Anthony explained that Kim has a fear of being in crowds.

When Housing Forward started using rooms at the Write Inn and the Carleton, both in Oak Park, it seemed like a good solution for Kim. I hooked them up with a case worker who made the arrangements. 

Housing Forward aims to end homelessness by transitioning individuals and families from temporary, emergency shelters into stable, long-term permanent housing. Their approach pairs affordable housing units with vital wraparound support services to ensure long-term stability and prevent a return to homelessness. 

They set Kim and Anthony up with an apartment in Northlake. The arrangement has them progressively paying a greater share of the rent. The problem is that, because of mental health issues, Kim has never worked a day in her life, the reason she wound up living on the streets, making it difficult for her case workers to get her on disability. 

Anthony was able to get occasional day labor jobs and eventually a permanent part-time job with Goodwill in Elmhurst. Anthony has his own mental health issues, including clinical depression. 

“People who have not experienced that disorder,” he explained, “have no idea how paralyzing it can be.”

A year ago, Anthony ran into what he called some bad luck. He was driving a car a friend loaned him when he was pulled over for not having a functioning tail light. When the officer ran his driver’s license, he learned that there was a warrant out for his arrest for burglary.

Anthony claims he was not guilty and the charge was the result of a business misunderstanding, although it may have been also the result of poor judgement on Anthony’s part regarding how he handled the ending of the business relationship.

Two realities stacked the deck against Anthony. One was that because he had been homeless, he had no mailing address and therefore was unaware of the warrant. And second, because he was penniless, he had to rely on a public defender whose caseload made it impossible to do the research necessary to defend his client adequately.

He advised Anthony to accept a plea bargain which put Anthony on parole, which included mandated appointments with his parole officer and a mental health counselor, both of which he was required to pay for — two unfunded mandates.

The federal government did come through with link cards to help the two buy groceries, but with the current administration’s budget cuts in human services and massive layoffs of federal employees, Kim and Anthony went for a year without getting their link cards renewed. Thankfully, Proviso Township provided them with vouchers which were redeemable at only one grocery store in the area, and which charged as much as twice the amount as Aldi’s was charging. 

Then, good luck, Anthony inherited a car.

More good luck. His parole time ended.

Bad luck. Last year Anthony parked his car in a no-parking zone in Bellwood “just to run into a store for a few minutes.” When he came out of the store, he discovered that the Bellwood police had towed his car.

The impounding private business charged him $500 to get his car and the Bellwood police charged him another $500 for the tow.

That was the only time in our six-year relationship that I ever saw Anthony cry. He had worked hard to save $1,000 and one mistake took it all away. 

In Anthony’s narrative he presents himself and Kim as victims, which as far as I can tell is partly true. Another part of the story is poor judgment and still another part is mental illness.

Housing Forward’s approach to homelessness is informed by an understanding that people who wind up living on the street need a hand up, not a handout, which assumes that their clients have the mental-emotional resources to recover. Indeed, Housing Forward boasts a 70% success rate regarding getting their clients out of homelessness and into permanent housing.

Unfortunately, Kim and Anthony fall into the 30% who don’t or can’t respond to Housing Forward’s approach, although they still are receiving a rent subsidy from the nonprofit.

I’m not a social worker, but in my layman’s opinion, Kim should have been on disability years ago. My wife and I are contributing our share. Housing Forward and its church allies are contributing their share, but the need of folks like Kim and Anthony requires more resources than we are able to provide.

The federal government helps victims of floods and wildfires. 

They also need to help victims of mental illness.