Homeless youth and their supporters drew attention to the state budget stalemate's impact on services by protesting Thursday outside a downtown high-rise building where Gov. Bruce Rauner owns a condo.
According to protest organizers, Rauner's condo at 340 E. Randolph St. is used as a storage space.
The group, organized by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, displayed 25 backpacks outside the building "to represent the 25,000 homeless Illinois youth who face losing shelter, housing and services due to the 10-month state budget impasse," according to a statement.
"We are out here in front of one of Governor Rauner's nine homes. He owns nine luxury homes, and yet there are thousands of homeless people around the state that have no homes, and the only places that they have to stay are in jeopardy," Julie Dworkin with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless told CBS Chicago.
Advocates are pushing for the release of state funds that, they say, have already been collected and earmarked for affordable housing and anti-homelessness efforts.