According to the Chicago 2020 PIT, there are 3,861 homeless individuals residing in shelters and 1,529 unsheltered.1 Some shelters for single adults close during the day which results in more individuals who spend the day in commercial and business areas where they do not have easy access to use the bathroom as most businesses maintain use for customers only. Since there are few public bathrooms, individuals experiencing homelessness often have no option but to find a spot along the street, sidewalks, and CTA entrances further stripping away their dignity and resulting in human waste in walkways. For example, there is a clear gap in public bathrooms in the Loop even though there are some publicly accessible options in the greater downtown area (such as port-a-potties at targeted encampments, public bathrooms or comfort stations at City parks, and bathrooms at Millennium and Union Stations and the Block 37 pedway).
The City of Chicago should pilot a mobile bathroom program in hotspot areas where individuals experiencing homelessness spend the day. The mobile bathrooms are placed during the day and taken away at night for servicing. DFSS can fund community organizations to employ bathroom attendants through job training programs. The attendants maintain the bathroom and ensure its proper use. A high-quality design and the cleanliness of the space results in a public bathroom that upholds the dignity of individuals experiencing homelessness and may also serve commuters and tourists as well.2 The City could consider engaging with local artists to paint the mobile bathrooms which celebrates local art and adds a visual aesthetic to the downtown space.
Costs can potentially be offset by the reduction of resources spent by Streets and Sanitation cleaning public ways in the targeted areas as occurred in San Francisco2. Additionally, the City can seek to share costs with organizations and business districts concerned with the lack of public bathrooms. The Chicago Loop Alliance and School of the Art Institute Chicago shared costs for 2 port-a-potties during the COVID-19 pandemic through May, and they may be willing to share costs of servicing a mobile bathroom.
The piloted bathrooms should also complement an effort to increase public use and awareness of existing bathrooms including improvement of signage in downtown and agreements with the managing entities like CTA to limit closures. However, it should be noted that managing business entities like Block 37 may be averse to advertising public bathrooms for use by individuals experiencing homelessness, which would reinforce the need for bathrooms around the Loop.
City of Chicago
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