Chicago pushes back plans to clear out homeless encampment in Gompers Park

The City of Chicago had originally planned to clear out the homeless encampment in Gompers Park by the end of February, but that timeline is now changing.

Five months ago, WGN Investigates walked through Gompers Park and saw tents along with people who have called the park home for the last two years.

The new community that emerged has been the source of some criticism from people living nearby, fighting to remove the homeless encampment because of safety concerns.

In January, they thought they were finally heard when the city announced February plans to clear the park, but now two weeks before the so-called “accelerated moving event,” was scheduled to happen, it was announced it’s been pushed back to March.

“The rationale that they gave me was because of the federal government saying they were going to be withholding some federal funds, but as we all know, that didn’t happen because the courts were able to intervene, and so I think this is such a critical need right now. Quite frankly, I was hoping that we could expedite this moving event instead of punting it another week and a half off into the future,” Ald. Samantha Nugent (39th Ward) said.

Nugent said the date change comes on the heels of a reported pit bull attack last week near the park and three fires. It’s a safety issue Nugent explained to Mayor Brandon Johnson in a letter signed by three other lawmakers.