Ending Homelessness in Chicago

          Ending homelessness... is it a dream?  Imagine a city like Chicago without homelessness! It could happen. In 2002, Mayor Daley was the first mayor to sign onto a Plan to End Homelessness. The goal to end homelessness in ten years. There are three key elements of the Plan:

• providing enough permanent, affordable housing

• stopping the flow of persons into homelessness

• helping those who are homeless end their homelessness as quickly as possible.

Its part of a nationwide effort to re-think the way homeless persons are helped.

          How is Franciscan Outreach participating in these efforts? Mostly through the last element.

        Our Chicago Loop Case Management Project places two case managers in the heart of Chicago's downtown area - where there were none before. Their goal is to move people into permanent housing as quickly as possible. The Streets-to-Home initiative of the Chicago Department of Housing provides the funding. They've recently awarded us funding for a third case manager. Along with funding comes vouchers to place 20 persons into permanent housing. We've also provided help on lots of other issues. Click here for some stats. Once we have persons in permanent housing, we will provide ongoing case management support to keep them from becoming homeless again. The case managers work in donated office space at First United Methodist Church and St. Peter's Church, both of which are right downtown.

       We're planning a Transitional Jobs Program for our Crew Staff at the shelter. We'd like to be able to help our Crew Staff find employment, housing, and a better life. This would involve having them stay at the shelter 24 hours / day while developing work skills and and doing whatever it takes to find and maintain a stable lifestyle. Features will include job training, job skills training, substance abuse recovery group meetings, life skills training, and housing placement. This would qualify as Interim Housing under the Plan. Let us know if you'd like to help support this effort.

       We are a point of contact for persons who are homeless. Current strategies under the Plan call for outreach workers who visit homeless persons on the streets and offer them food or other immediate assistance and try to engage them in housing. We do some of this already with our Loop Case Managers. Our other case managers, however, have to walk no further than our front door to find homeless persons who need assistance. We build a relationship with homeless individuals and encourage them to find housing and whatever else they need. We could never walk enough miles to see all the people we currently see. Our efforts may qualify as either the Outreach & Engagement or the Community Based Case Management elements of the Plan. We are looking for funds for a housing placement coordinator and several more general case managers.

We are committed to maintaining our emergency services for as long as they are needed. One goal of the Plan is to phase out all emergency shelters by 2012.  Wouldn't it be great if there were so few homeless persons that we could transform one of our men's dorms into a supportive service center? That would be fine with us - we could expand our services in one or more of the areas listed above. Until then, though, we are committed to providing food and shelter to those who line up at our doors. Our basic programs give us the infrastructure that allows us to do special projects that are geared toward a specific sub-population of our guests. We remain committed to them for as long as they are needed by our guests.

You, too, can play a part in ending homelessness by providing financial support for the work we do. Click here to donate.