Oak Park officials said the opening of a larger homeless shelter in the community has helped reduce the number of people living in Scoville Park.
Village officials said that approximately 20 people had been sleeping in the vicinity of the park before local homelessness abatement agency Housing Forward opened a new overnight shelter in the village in October. The new shelter, located at 112 S. Humphrey Ave., doubled Housing Forward’s shelter capacity.
Earlier this year, Oak Park launched a new program to provide social services to homeless people and others in need as the village started up its Engaging Community for Healthy Outcomes pilot program, otherwise known as ECHO. As winter set in, ECHO staff were able to get several of the people living in the park into beds at the new shelter, officials said.
While the park is now clear of tents, the village said it did not remove them.
“The village’s ECHO team has actively been engaging with individuals that have been sleeping in Scoville Park and outside of the library for approximately the past 8-12 months,” staff said in a statement on the homeless population at the park. “Of the approximately 20 unhoused individuals that were in that area near Scoville Park and the Oak Park Public Library, about eight went into shelter. A handful of the individuals expressed that they were not interested in shelter at the time and they continue to work with ECHO and Housing Forward’s street outreach team. Staff also learned that that some individuals in that area have either left Oak Park or have returned home with family around the time a few weeks ago when we had the cold snap. To answer your question, the village did not remove any tents.”
The ECHO program’s development followed a 2022 study by consultant group BerryDunn that the village commissioned to help outline a vision for alternative response and social service programming in Oak Park. Besides working with people experiencing homelessness in the village, ECHO staffers regularly help clients needing help with senior services issues and mental health issues, according to the village.
In addition to the team’s relationship with Housing Forward, the village said ECHO staff began collaborating with the Park District of Oak Park in October to develop a stronger understanding of needs of the unhoused population in Scoville Park. That work will continue with staff distributing supplies and maintaining relationships with people experiencing homelessness in the village, officials said.
“ECHO continues to monitor and engage with all unhoused individuals, ensuring they communicate and work with Housing Forward to update the by-name list and get people screened through the call center for shelter/housing,” village officials said. “ECHO also continues to hand out warming kits to help individuals with their basic needs at the moment, to build rapport and work to engage them until they are ready and willing to go to shelter.”