When The Homeless Swarm This Shelter, A 'Lottery' Determines Who Gets To Stay

(CBS) -- Young people aged 14 to 21 comprise nearly 10 percent of Chicago's homeless population.

CBS 2's Brad Edwards caught up with one of them at a South Side shelter. The streets have been this young man's life since he was 19, he says.

He was waiting for the doors to open at Ujima Village. Ujima is a principle of Kwanzaa, collective work and responsibility.

The colder it gets the more traffic there is.

"There's only 24 beds. When there's 30 people, you got to do a lottery. So, six people get turned around, if they don't get picked," the homeless man tells Edwards.

It's a Lotto, where you're in – or out in the cold.