An op-ed by four Illinois state legislators: The mayor's proposed real estate transfer tax increase can be amended to produce a win-win outcome for both deficit reduction and homelessness relief. There are a whopping 86,324 people experiencing homelessness in Chicago, according to estimates calculated by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. And sometimes it has seemed as if an equal number of reasons have been offered for why we can’t allocate more resources to address this human catastrophe. As a result, Chicago’s spending to alleviate homelessness has lagged woefully behind other major U.S. cities with large homeless populations over the decades. We spend only five percent of what New York City spends per homeless person, and a mere three percent of what Los Angeles spends per person. | 
