Lake County Gazette

Co-hosts Joe Weiss and Pete Jansons discussed the homeless population problem outside of hte Lake Forest Bank of America on a recent of the Lake Forest podcast.

“Has anybody talked to the Bank of America staff inside and said, ‘hey, you know, you got these homeless people out there sleeping,’” Weiss asked Jansons. 

Jansons said he had a run in with P.A.D.S. of Lake County, a group working with the homeless in Lake County. He said he’d received push back for pressing Bank of America on the issue. 

“Why are you wasting your time on Facebook? Go out there and help this dude. That's the poor soul laying on the sidewalk,” Jansons said.

"Lake Forest Podcast: ‘Has anybody talked to the Bank of America staff?’ "

Illinois’ homeless population is estimated to be around 10,000 according to U.S. News and World Report.

Homelessness has been getting worse over the past few years, especially after the pandemic. In 2022, around 421,400 people were noted as homeless with more than 127,000 considered “chronically homeless.”

In Chicago the homelessness issue has been noted. 

“By any measure, the problem is only growing worse. The city has seen its homeless population nearly double between its 2022 “Point-in-Time” count and its 2023 snapshot of residents experiencing homelessness on a single night, jumping from 3,875 to 6,139,” Illinois Answers said in a report.