For Illinois’ homeless populations and those who serve them, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a crisis — the volunteer, mostly faith-based shelters that long had been the backbone of the state’s emergency housing system were closing their doors.
But with the crisis — and a sudden influx of temporary federal, state and philanthropic funding — came an opportunity to move away from an already-stressed emergency housing system to what advocates say is a more dignified and effective one.
Those same advocates, however, say the new system, largely based on using government vouchers to fund private hotel rooms, is on the edge of a fiscal cliff as federal COVID-19 response funding dries up.
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It’s a pressing issue, more than 220 housing advocacy organizations wrote to Gov. J.B. Pritzker this week, because Illinois is already about 4,500 beds short of the 11,300 it needs to accommodate all individuals seeking shelter on a given night, according to a recent report to a state homelessness task force.
“Without a significant increase in state funding, the severe shelter shortage will worsen,” the advocates wrote. “(Illinois Shelter Alliance) members estimate that at least 1,600 existing shelter beds could be lost during 2023 due to federal COVD-19 relief funds, mostly being spent on hotel vouchers, being fully expended.”
The Illinois Shelter Alliance is a coalition of more than 50 emergency and transitional housing organizations from throughout Illinois that have organized to push for increased state emergency housing investment.
The ask for the upcoming fiscal year which begins July 1 is a $51 million, six-fold increase to a long-stagnant emergency housing line item to sustain the new system and create a bridge to a more permanent one.
It’s increasingly important, the letter noted, as alliance members reported up to 76% of the churches and other facilities that have provided congregate shelters previously are unable or unwilling to resume doing so due to closures, declining membership and COVID-19 concerns.
“So, pre-pandemic, the shelter model was people survive the winter because churches let them sleep on the floor,” Doug Kenshol, executive director of the emergency housing organization South Suburban PADS, one of the signers of the letter, said in a phone call.