“This winter was so, so very hard. Being homeless during Coronavirus was a scary and lonely feeling. I don’t know what I would have done all summer without my home. I’m just so grateful.”
Mandi has been a Chicago resident for the last decade. Originally from Iowa, she chose an adventurer’s lifestyle when she was younger – joining some friends on a cross-country journey to find themselves. The life was tough, and after a series of heartbreaks and losses – Mandi chose to stay in her final destination, Chicago.
“Honestly, I didn’t have anywhere to go back to. Going home wasn’t an option, and so I decided I needed to build a new life here. I was going to find stability here.”
That journey toward stability has been more difficult than expected. Jobs came and went, and without stable housing or a social safety net, any minor speedbump in Mandi’s life quickly became a crisis. Every time she seemed to get closer to success, another speedbump appeared.
But Mandi has never been one to give up. She’s made life work over the past decade, staying in tent encampments and finding more private spaces along the river or on Lower Wacker Drive. For the most part, she’s been on her own and often preferred it that way. Last year, as fall turned to winter, Mandi was staying in a tent on Lower Wacker when she saw a group of people handing out toiletries and providing medical screenings.
“They said they were here to help people find a home – a REAL home. A lot of us were skeptical, I was too.”
That’s where she met Ryan, a community outreach professional with Heartland Alliance Health who impressed her right from the start. After a brief conversation, Ryan gave her his cellphone number and told her to call him any time she wanted to start looking for a new path. That left a real impression on Mandi.
“You know, it can be hard to get in touch with a real person for any kind of help – and he just made himself so readily available,” Mandi said. “When you leave a number with an agency, it doesn’t always work out the way you hope. But with Ryan, he was always ready, and you could tell he wanted to get me housed.”
And it’s true. Ryan and the HAH outreach team always stayed true to their word. They were never late for a meeting. If Mandi left a message on Ryan’s cell, he’d respond swiftly. For individuals experiencing homelessness like Mandi, that accountability really matters. Mandi has been burned many times by people offering help, and seeing this team of outreach workers rise above expectations gave her a renewed hope and inspiration.
“The Heartland Alliance van would come down to Lower Wacker pretty regularly throughout the winter. Didn’t matter how cold it was. Every time, there was Ryan with a computer in his lap. He was always ready to look at another program, another service, another way to find me housing. He really went through that whole thing. Stepped up to the plate.”
Those meetings continued to take place as the city and country were overwhelmed by COVID-19. Even as the Loop shut down and the locals all seemed to disappear, Ryan and the van would continue to show up – now outfitted in masks and gloves.
“I was concerned because living out there requires human interaction. All of a sudden there’s nobody to help out there – but you guys were. You guys didn’t stop.”
Then, in May, she got the call. Ryan was thrilled to tell Mandi that she was matched with housing through an organization called Housing Opportunities for Women. Within a matter of days, she was going through her initial appointments with the organization and planning for a new start on the North Side.
“I thought it was a joke at first. I’ve been out here for 10 years, and it just didn’t seem real. When I walked in that apartment, my new home, it was the most incredible feeling in the world.”
Given the pandemic, everyone involved wanted to get Mandi into the safety of her own home as quickly as possible, so she initially moved into an apartment without furniture or appliances. But once again, Ryan and the Heartland Alliance team showed up for her. Through a few local agencies and the help of some friends, the apartment was furnished with a couch, chairs, TV – and most importantly cooking appliances.
Mandi loves to cook in her new home. She fries chicken and makes a mean pork chop. But most importantly, she loves to do her own thing. Living on the street meant taking what she could get in order to survive. Now, with her own kitchen and access to SNAP benefits, Mandi sets the daily menu based on her own wants and needs.
“For 10 years of being homeless, I’ve had to deal with other people’s leftovers or other sort of junk food. I forgot how much I loved to cook. It’s therapeutic, it’s a wonderful feeling.”
Today, as Mandi looks through her window at an uncertain world, she’s happy to breathe a sigh of relief. She spent a decade outside, among countless individuals, but at the same time feeling completely alone. Today, she lives by herself in a one-bedroom apartment, but her loneliness has all but disappeared.
“This pandemic is scary. It’s hard to have to distance from people and everything, but I don’t feel alone right now. I feel like I’ve got people who actually care for me, and care about me doing well. I haven’t had that in a long time.”
