There’s a high chance many Chicagoans have walked or driven past a person trying to keep warm on the street, while rushing home to take shelter themselves from an unforgiving wind chill.
These scenarios are why homelessness and the lack of affordable housing so often take center stage in Chicago, where brutal winters are routine. The mix of cold and lack of housing can be deadly: Between October 2021 and June 2022, the Cook County medical examiner’s office reported that 64 people died from cold exposure in our city.
