Newly Evicted Family Moves into Abandoned Outdoor Dining Enclosure
CHICAGO, IL — Researchers in Chicago are noticing a trend of newly homeless individuals, all of whom lost their living situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, moving into fully enclosed outdoor dining areas that were made, as well as abandoned, in response to COVID-19 restrictions. “I lost my job, and then we lost our apartment, and I didn’t know what to do,” Manny Jefferson, 42, single father of three children told us in an interview, “Then I realized that the outdoor dining areas around here are basically apartments anyway, so we moved into one attached to a bar that closed down because they weren’t following pandemic safety guidelines.” The outdoor dining enclosures that many restaurants created in order to continue conducting business during the winter months have become the subject of ridicule. Community members voiced concerns that the enclosures aren’t ‘outdoor’ at all, due to the fact that they are enclosed in four walls and a roof and many have central heating and bathrooms. “This one had a bathroom attached to it. We’re basically inside. It’s honestly better than our apartment.” The dining area has a lot of seating, packed closed together so that Franklin and his sons were able to make sleeping arrangements and separate living areas. “We got TV’s and stuff in here too,” Franklin said through a smile, “We sectioned off rooms using all the chairs in here. I was sad that we got evicted, but I am happy this business got evicted. I bet a ton of people got sick in here.” Franklin and his family have received $200,000 in donations from community members to get them back into an apartment, but Franklin has stated that he and his sons are going to remain living in the outdoor dining enclosure for the foreseeable future.
