The Orange Tent Project worked with architecture students to design a small but secure wooden structure that they believed would not require permits. Last week, days after construction began, the city issued a work stoppage order.
As temperatures plummeted to their lowest this season, the homeless outreach program of Thresholds, a North Side-based mental health provider, worked overtime to canvass the city handing out warm clothes, meals and offering shelter.
Volunteers, outreach groups and city workers spread across the city as extreme cold temperatures took hold, raising concerns about the danger to unsheltered people and other vulnerable populations. And at least one man, a 54-year-old, died from the severe weather.