Weeks after the homeless were publicly told they could no longer sleep at O’Hare Airport, a man stood near the tracks of the CTA’s Blue Line asking for spare change from people passing through during overnight hours.

“I’m very hungry,” the man said in early April.

At the top of the escalator leading into the airport, a Chicago police officer stood guard as he and other officers rotated through, stopping people who didn’t have suitcases or worker uniforms and badges. The officers did not appear to ask for any form of identification.

Unhoused people like those who arrived via the L that night had long used O’Hare as a sanctuary for shelter. In mid-February, national news coverage of how many people were spending the night at the airport prompted then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot to vow to remove them from there.

Recently, questions about how to assist and protect unhoused individuals have intensified because of poor air quality in New York and other cities.

During night hours, anyone arriving at O’Hare could be asked to provide evidence — such as an airline boarding pass or a work badge — that showed why they were at the airport, according to a statement from the Chicago Department of Aviation.

“In order to provide a secure environment at O’Hare International Airport, CDA security personnel work with the Chicago Police Department to enforce existing laws, which make clear that it is unlawful to be at Chicago’s airports without any airport business,” the agency said.

Even as City Hall has changed administrations, unhoused individuals continue to be locked out of O’Hare. In late May, four Chicago officers remained stationed outside of the Blue Line station.

A Chicago police officer was seen guiding a man wearing a coat and carrying a small duffel bag back to the train station where a worker for Haymarket Center — which provides services for unhoused individuals — handed out sandwiches to a group of men.

In a statement, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration said Friday that it was evaluating laws and security policies with other airports to guide what happens at O’Hare.

“Mayor Johnson is committed to the safety of all airport passengers and employees and he is working to identify solutions to the City’s housing crisis,” the statement read.

His office also said that Johnson still supports proposed policies like the financial assistance program Bring Chicago Home because he “believes it can deliver real solutions to supporting unsheltered people and reducing homelessness.”

How many people in Chicago don’t have shelter can vary depending on how the individuals are counted. A 2022 report from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless estimated that in 2022 more than 65,600 people in Chicago were experiencing some degree of homelessness. The organization includes people who are temporarily staying with others or doubling up in their count.

Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services in their annual count found that there were 6,139 individuals experiencing homelessness this year.

The need for more housing options has come to the forefront as city officials have struggled to find shelter beds for the more than 9,900 asylum seekers who have arrived in Chicago since last August. In late May, there were 4,149 immigrants staying in city-run shelters, according to city officials.

At O’Hare, at least three dozen people from January to March faced criminal charges like trespassing and were arrested by police.

One 30-year-old man was arrested Feb. 11 after officers spotted him sitting on a heating vent near Terminal 3’s baggage claim, according to police records. The man cursed at officers after they told him he couldn’t be at the property if he wasn’t a passenger or worker.

About a month later, he pleaded guilty to criminal trespassing to state land, and he was sentenced to 30 days in jail, according to Cook County court records.

In the first three months of the year, the most arrests happened in late February after Lightfoot’s announcement, according to a review of police reports. A few of the 13 individuals arrested during that time period had been arrested previously at O’Hare, according to police and court records.

The enforcement actions at O’Hare have sparked questions from advocacy groups like the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, said Patricia Nix-Hodes, the director of the organization’s law project. Nix-Hodes said she is concerned the rules aren’t being applied to everyone.

“How the situation at O’Hare was handled is not a solution to homelessness,” Nix-Hodes said. “It doesn’t provide housing to people experiencing homelessness. And in fact, it makes it even more difficult for service providers who are working with people to secure alternative and permanent housing to even find those people.”

One person who had sought shelter at O’Hare was Denise, who asked that her full name not be published. In February, she slept at O’Hare for three to four nights until she was awakened by a police officer.

“They said, ‘C’mon you can’t stay here,’” Denise said by phone. “And so I sat up, put on my hat and starting going toward the Blue Line. And all three [officers] escorted me there. And I’m like, ‘Look, I don’t want to be here any more than you want to have people, where am I supposed to go?’”

Denise said she later tried to return to O’Hare, but she was turned away by officers. She ended up staying at a police station while trying to reach 311 to secure a spot at a shelter.

Eventually, volunteers who do homeless outreach on the city’s Northwest Side found her and set her up with a hotel room until she was able to get placed into a supportive living facility, Denise said.

While Denise was able to connect to social services, others may lose that connection.

Alaina Boyer, the director of research at National Health Care for the Homeless Council, said encampment sweeps can disrupt social services and treatment for things like opioid use. The national organization recently released a study that used computational modeling and simulations to show what happens to individuals who are displaced from a temporary shelter during encampment sweeps.

“There’s an increased risk in probability that individuals who are displaced from their encampment involuntarily have increased death rates, they have less engagement in opioid use treatment, which it results in increased using and overdosed deaths,” Boyer said. “We also saw that there was increased infections from injection use that goes up as well.”

Nix-Hodes said officials should identify a path for permanent housing for individuals before pushing them out of locations like O’Hare. She pointed out how difficult it is to get a bed at a shelter because they are at overcapacity.

“That’s not a solution,” she said about pushing people out of encampments without any place to go. “That’s just keeping a certain group of people out of sight at a certain location.”

Chicago isn’t the only city where people experiencing homelessness turn to an airport for shelter. At John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens, New York, numerous travelers and staff members said they noticed an increase in the number of unhoused people living at the airport.

Like O’Hare, the airport is closed during overnight hours and only airport staff and ticketed passengers are allowed inside, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The Port Authority has “longstanding arrangements with various outreach services that aid unhoused individuals to provide referrals and assistance to individuals needing shelter and related services.”

The services include assistance with processing social services assistance applications, placement into temporary or permanent housing and referral to mental health or medical facilities if needed.

In Los Angeles, a parking lot pilot program was approved to allow people living in their vehicles to stay at a secure parking lot at Los Angeles International Airport. 

The program – which the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners passed unanimously – is the first airport in the country to receive approval, on a pilot basis, from the Federal Aviation Administration to use airport land for assisting unhoused individuals, according to a news release from Los Angeles World Airports.

More than 19,000 people of Los Angeles County’s approximately 69,000 unhoused individuals live in their vehicles, according to a recent count from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

Unhoused individuals living in their vehicles will be able to stay at the lot overnight and be allowed access to restrooms, security and trash services, the release said. 

The program participants have to leave the parking lot during the day and during hours of non-operation, according to LAWA. They also must sign a code of conduct and are required to be enrolled in a program that will help them transition to more permanent housing solutions.

The program was expected to begin with a “soft launch” in early June, LAWA told the Sun-Times. The program is set to last for a year with an option to extend, and LAWA will be able to end the contract for any reason within the first 30 days.

In Chicago, Bring Chicago Home, a coalition of people experiencing homelessness alongside direct-service organizations focused on addressing homelessness, launched a campaign with a proposal that would aim to provide financial relief to more than 65,000 people impacted by homelessness, according to the coalition’s website. 

The proposal would raise a one-time tax by almost 2% on homes sold that are worth more than $1 million, according to the website. The money generated from the tax would then be dedicated to programs and housing to aid individuals experiencing homelessness, including veterans, children and women who are domestic violence survivors.

“I’m hopeful that there will be a different approach and that there will be support for [Bring Chicago Home,]” Nix-Hodes said. “I’m hopeful that a change will help address this solution.” 

Elvia Malagón’s reporting on social justice and income inequality is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust.