Living with Pride, a house for LGBT people in substance-abuse recovery, will probably have to move from its current location on the 2500 block of West Cullom in Chicago's North Center neighborhood.
Following complaints from a neighbor—which were publicized in the Chicago Tribune's column "What's Your Problem?"—the city's Department of Zoning and Planning issued a decision stating that, as a space that houses residents for an undefined period of time, Living with Pride qualifies as a "transitional house" and needs a special permit. The house is currently zoned as a permanent residence.
Although Living with Pride's executive director, Dr. Claudia Mosier, plans to appeal the decision, the refusal of 47th Ward Alderman Gene Schulter to support the appeal makes it unlikely to succeed. Schulter said that he made his decision after a June 1 community forum in which community members expressed a number of concerns about the house. Meeting attendants also voted pre-emptively to deny the necessary permit to Living with Pride—although at that point, no permit had been applied for.
Though Schulter said that he supports "the concept" of Living with Pride, he objected to the process by which the house ended up in his ward. "When you go into a community," he said, "you really need to do your homework." He said that Mosier should have built a relationship with his ward before signing a lease and opening the doors of Living with Pride.
Schulter said that he has offered to help Mosier in "finding a more suitable facility," either in the 47th Ward or someplace nearby.
After several years of planning, Living with Pride opened the doors of its North Center location March 1. In a May 7 e-mail to the Windy City Times, Mosier described herself as "disheartened" at the city's decision. She said that the idea of moving is difficult because of the facility's lease. She also expressed concern about running into the same problems in a new neighborhood.