Homeless In Glen Ellyn (Evanston, Wheaton: houses, buy, live)

[Sweetmariez]

Has anyone else noticed the explosion in the homeless population in Glen Ellyn? I counted 8 at the library on Mother's Day when I was there with my son. I can't believe the residents, realtors and local shop owners are happy with this. Is anyone doing anything about this?

[Avengerfire]

Holy crap 8 homeless people in Glen Ellyn? What shall we do? The sky is falling! Maybe talk to them and see how you can help them or get help for them. Wow.

[Steve-o]

The town has money, bums follow it, simple as that. Ive seen bums in the most upscale places you can imagine. Unless they bother you, who cares? Now, if they become a nuisance, then you can piledrive em. Till then, do what you can to help em, put yourself in their shoes.

[irish setter girl]

There was an interesting article in the paper last winter about an incident at the Glen Ellyn Starbucks. Apparantly a woman was frequenting the coffee shop quite a bit and from her appearance people assumed she was homeless. She was often seen talkking to other homeless people on the sidewalks around town. Well the other patrons complained to Starbucks and management eventually asked her to leave the shop during one of her visits. Come to find out she is NOT homeless, lives in the area and is employed as some type of social worker/counselor for the homeless. Boy did Starbucks have to shell out an apology for this one. I think the town is very cautious of how it handles this type of situation from now on. Glen Ellyn and Wheaton have several orgainzations who assist the homeless and therefore you will see them out and about. There is a man I have seen for many many years and he walks all over. I see him most often in downtown Wheaton but he also walks from Army Trail, south on Gary to the PADs shelter. He has been doing this for years. There is also another man who wears a Blackhawks jacket in the winter and a Blackhawks t-shirt in the summer. He walks the streets all year long and is very polite and friendly. He will tip his hat when he passes a lady. He use to walk past my house 3-4 times a day for about 6 years. We moved but I assume he does the same route since I still see him in town.

[gwilson67]

Glen Elen with homeless people? I thought every town had them so why is Glen Elen any different?

[Nysee53]

I have seen homeless people in Wilmette hanging around the library. I like the way Evanston has handled things very well. They have a huge crackdown on pan handlers. It is now illegal to give pan handlers money in Evanston. I have seen two pan handlers arrested in Evanston. They used to have a huge problem with bums hanging out on the lake front in front of all the swanky $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 mansions. The Evanston PD quickly put an end to that, now the Evanston residents complain about people from Rogers Park coming up to hang out in the parks. This is why they should build houses on the lake front parks like they do in Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, etc.

[IbeDavid]

Many are homeless because hard times have befell on them. They loose thier job , then they get evicted, and before long...they are part of the homeless population and seek Shelters each night . Some homeless, i believe, are quite lazy and dont want to help themselves, however ,so they get used to being homeless and seek free handouts including getting drunk often. Ive seen both. We should be careful about handing money over to them as we could be enabling their alchohol dependency ; if anything, buy them a fast food meal or find out where they can go for local shelter relief.

[prairiestate]

Well, I for one am shocked and appalled! Hopefully they'll be locked up in a workhouse soon so they don't soil the beautiful tranquility of DuPage County!

[nanannie]

Originally Posted by Nysee53

I have seen homeless people in Wilmette hanging around the library. I like the way Evanston has handled things very well. They have a huge crackdown on pan handlers. It is now illegal to give pan handlers money in Evanston. I have seen two pan handlers arrested in Evanston. They used to have a huge problem with bums hanging out on the lake front in front of all the swanky $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 mansions. The Evanston PD quickly put an end to that, now the Evanston residents complain about people from Rogers Park coming up to hang out in the parks. This is why they should build houses on the lake front parks like they do in Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, etc.

Build houses on the lake front parks ??? Did I read that right? So others cant use them? Whaaaat?

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by irish setter girl

There is also another man who wears a Blackhawks jacket in the winter and a Blackhawks t-shirt in the summer. He walks the streets all year long and is very polite and friendly

Either this is a strange coincidence, or the guy really gets around... I have seen him several times in St. Charles as well. He wears a black, satin-ish Blackhawks jacket, with simple red "Blackhawks" lettering on the back? Messy gray hair? If so, he is indeed a very nice guy. I ran into him outside of the Walgreens on 64 and Kirk Rd, he was very polite and smiled and said "hi" to my son, who actually attracted his attention by telling me loudly that he saw a Blackhawks jacket. Thats my boy! Anyway, sounds like the same guy. Ive seen him around on several occasions.