Chicago homeless people would receive 'backpack beds' under fundraising plan

When Tony Clark first visited Chicago 11 years ago, he said he saw homeless people experience "a different kind of horror."

Winters here, the Australian said, are on another level.

"I had never seen horizontal ice," he says.

Clark was in Chicago then, in 2013, to accept an award for the "backpack bed" he co-designed with his wife for the unhoused. The idea, which he said came to him in church, was to give people "warmth, comfort and dignity."

He helped distribute about 150 of his backpacks that convert into tents to homeless people across the city then.

Now, Clark has returned to Chicago with the goal of handing out many more of the backpack beds. The goal is 1,632, to be exact. That's the number of people estimated to be living on the streets according to the city's last Point in Time survey.

Clark says he thinks that count is probably low. But he says it's a starting point.

On a wet Friday morning, Clark demonstrated the backpack tent in Union Park, crawling into one himself. He was flanked by representatives from four homeless advocacy groups that will distribute the tents once they raise funds for the $200,000 price tag.

That roughly covers the tent price of $124 for every person living on the street according to the latest survey, Clark says.

He is asking people to donate at GoodnightChicago.org.

When the money is raised, the beds can be shipped to Chicago in late December or early January, he said. The beds can be distributed by the participating homeless organizations, which currently include Inner Voice, Street Samaritans, Our Moms Mission, Franciscan Outreach.

Clark, a former IT entrepreneur who speaks with the enthusiasm of a television pitchman, explained the benefits of such a small tent.

The 6-pound tent rolls out from its backpack into something that resembles a sleeping bag. But, unlike a sleeping bag, the tent is hardened for tough weather, including snow, rain and even fire. The bags are made of a fire-retardant material that resists burning, he says.

When the tent is rolled up into its backpack, the bag still has unused space for belongings. Each tent includes a clear window and two vents, and sports a small Australian flag.

This collapsible tent is designed to avoid the pitfalls of other more permanent camping tents that draw the ire of the community, avoiding what Clark said is an "us versus them" dynamic.

Dr. Diane Washington, a retired behavioral health psychiatrist at Cook County Health, has been advocating for emergency room doctors to distribute the backpack bed to homeless people they discharge. The tents are especially needed for surviving the winter months.

"The No. 1 problem is frostbite," she said. She's seen homeless people suffer amputations during the winter from frostbite. Shelter, including a tent like this backpack, would address that issue.

Two years ago she and a philanthropic partner distributed 40 of the backpack beds.

Jackie Edens, CEO of Inner Voice, says the tents are needed at a time when the city lacks the funding to meaningfully address homelessness.

Last spring, voters shot down Mayor Brandon Johnson's Bring Chicago Home ballot measure, which would have increased the property transfer tax for $1 million-plus to boost funding for homeless services.

"There needs to be political will" to address the problem, said Edens, who was commissioner of former Mayor Richard M. Daley's Office of Workforce Development.

Clark speaks of a "philanthropic return on investment" that the tents provide, beyond the sticker price.

He points to one estimate that each $124 tent produces $3,319 in "community impact," when you consider the prevented emergency room visits and potential for employment.

Washington said, based on her health care experience, the savings from each prevented ER visits is more likely over $20,000.

"The cost of the bed outweighs any of that," she says.

Clark's nonprofit has expanded since he last visited Chicago over a decade ago. He now sells around 7,000 beds to over 1,000 homeless organization in Australia alone. He says he is connected with 65 groups in the U.S. and hopes to expand to more.

"Dignity is the first step to getting people off the streets," Clark says.