91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Watch CBS News
Local News

Homeless shelter on Chicago's North Side offering first-of-its-kind dorm room model

By
Dana Kozlov
Dana Kozlov
Anchor/Reporter
Dana Kozlov is an Emmy Award-winning political investigative reporter for CBS2 Chicago. Prior to joining the station in 2003, she worked at WGN, CNN Chicago and WEEK-TV in Peoria, where she began her journalism career in 1992.
Read Full Bio
Dana Kozlov

/ CBS Chicago

 A North Side shelter is using a first-of-its-kind dorm room model to bring stability and restored dignity to men who are homeless. 

Shelter leaders said providing clients with their own personal space offers much more than a place to sleep inside a former Rogers Park medical clinic. 

"It's just a stepping stone. It's just a place to help me move forward in life," Resident Ray Smith said. 

Instead of sleeping in a large room on cots like other men's shelters, the residents share a room with one other person. 

"It's that sense of living a normal life is a motivator to get these gentlemen to think, I want this for myself. I'm gonna get a job, I'm going to get my own apartment, I'm going to live like this for the rest of my life," Peter Marchese, North Side Housing Board president, said. 

That's Smith's goal. He arrived with two duffel bags almost a year ago.

"You have all your belongings. You can leave it here. You can work. You can do what you need to do," Smith said. 

Marchese said shelter staff and programs help. There's laundry, three meals a day, medical care, financial counseling, art therapy all in a trauma-conscious environment that includes muted colors and skylights.

"We work with each of our clients to develop a plan to successfully transition out of shelter," Marchese said. "As long as they're working on it, each of our clients, they are welcome to stay."

Out of prison for two years now, Martin Bendik 

"It's like a unity, like a brotherhood. It's supposed to be like family, struggle together, to try to help each other out," Bendik said. 

The shelter has already housed over 150 clients since opening in December.  First backed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and then Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration, Marchese says it will be the city's model going forward. 

Marchese says Bendik is about to move to Wisconsin next month, to start his next chapter.  

While this shelter just opened its doors in December, Marchese says the city is planning to convert four other shelters to this dorm-type model in the next couple of years. 

In:

© 2025 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
const link = doc.createElement('link'); link.rel = 'stylesheet'; link.href = '/fly/fly/bundles/cbsnewscontent/css/cmp-banner.min.css?v=50747257b890e014813016b79ece0fb2'; doc.head.appendChild(link); doc.body.innerHTML = CONSENT_MESSAGE; } else { el.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', CONSENT_MESSAGE); } }); } function hidePrivacyMessage() { // Remove from the main document document.querySelectorAll(`.${CONSENT_MESSAGE_CLASS}`).forEach(el => el.remove()); // Remove from inside any iframes document.querySelectorAll('iframe').forEach(iframe => { const doc = iframe.contentDocument || iframe.contentWindow.document; doc.querySelectorAll(`.${CONSENT_MESSAGE_CLASS}`).forEach(el => el.remove()); }); } function activateGatedScripts() { // Handle both new format (cmp-gated-script) and old OneTrust/Ketch format (optanon-category-4) const gatedScripts = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('script.cmp-gated-script, script.optanon-category-4')); // Activate scripts sequentially with a small delay to avoid timing issues let delay = 0; gatedScripts.forEach(function(placeholder, index) { setTimeout(function() { // Skip if already processed if (placeholder.hasAttribute('data-cmp-processed')) { return; } placeholder.setAttribute('data-cmp-processed', 'true'); const newScript = document.createElement('script'); newScript.type = 'text/javascript'; // Try new format first (data-cmp-src), then fall back to old format (data-src) const src = placeholder.getAttribute('data-cmp-src') || placeholder.getAttribute('data-src'); if (src) { newScript.src = src; } else if (placeholder.textContent) { // Inline script - just copy the content newScript.textContent = placeholder.textContent; } // Handle new format attributes (data-cmp-attrs) - for both inline and external scripts const attrs = placeholder.getAttribute('data-cmp-attrs'); if (attrs) { const tempDiv = document.createElement('div'); tempDiv.innerHTML = '
<\/div>'; const tempAttrs = tempDiv.firstChild.attributes; for (let i = 0; i < tempAttrs.length; i++) { // For external scripts, allow defer/async. For inline scripts, skip them (not valid) if (src || (tempAttrs[i].name !== 'async' && tempAttrs[i].name !== 'defer')) { newScript.setAttribute(tempAttrs[i].name, tempAttrs[i].value); } } } // Copy other attributes from old OneTrust format for (let i = 0; i < placeholder.attributes.length; i++) { const attr = placeholder.attributes[i]; // Skip attributes we've already handled or don't want to copy if (!['class', 'data-src', 'data-type', 'data-cmp-src', 'data-cmp-attrs', 'data-cmp-processed', 'type', 'async', 'defer', 'src'].includes(attr.name)) { newScript.setAttribute(attr.name, attr.value); } } placeholder.parentNode.replaceChild(newScript, placeholder); // If external script, manually trigger window.onload handlers after it loads // This handles widgets that use window.onload for initialization if (src) { newScript.addEventListener('load', function() { // If page already loaded and script set a new onload handler, trigger it if (document.readyState === 'complete' && window.onload) { const originalOnload = window.onload; window.onload = null; // Clear temporarily to prevent loops originalOnload(); // Execute the handler } }); } }, delay); delay += 500; // 500ms delay between each script to allow full loading }); } cbsoptanon.onScriptsReady(function(cmp) { cmp.ot.targetingAllowed(function(allowed) { if (!allowed) { showPrivacyMessage(); } else { activateGatedScripts(); } }); cmp.ot.awaitInitialConsent(function(consent_model) { cmp.ot.addOnConsentChangedHandler(function() { cmp.ot.targetingAllowed(function(allowed) { if (allowed) { hidePrivacyMessage(); activateGatedScripts(); } else { showPrivacyMessage(); } }); }); }); });