City Officials Pitch Plan To Convert Diplomat Motel Into Transitional Housing During Rowdy Meeting

by Alex V. Hernandez / Block Club Chicago / June 1, 2023

The city wants to convert the motel into housing with services for unhoused Chicagoans. While most neighbors appeared to support it, a small group disrupted the meeting before it could start.
LINCOLN SQUARE — Neighbors clashed during a rowdy Wednesday night meeting where Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) and other officials pitched plans to convert a Lincoln Square motel into transitional housing for unhoused Chicagoans.

The project would have the city acquire the 46-room Diplomat Motel, 5230 N. Lincoln Ave., and convert it into 40 rooms of special housing tied to supportive services that include mental health and medical care, city officials previously said. 

The new initiative is part of the Department of Public Health’s Stabilization Housing Pilot Program and has its roots in a March 2020 pilot program to provide people experiencing homelessness rooms at hotels to slow the spread of COVID-19, Vasquez previously said. Read more HERE