Homeless shelters bracing for tough season

As they prepare to open homeless shelters for the cold months, officials with the suburbs' leading homeless-assistance organizations are bracing for greater demand.

In many communities, emergency shelters open today for fall and winter. From the phone calls workers with Lake County PADS already have received, officials know needs will be high.

"We're getting more and more calls from families," said Cathy Curran, executive director of Lake County PADS. "It's a marked increase."

The Palatine-based Journeys From PADS to HOPE group, which serves that town and nearby suburbs, has seen a 43-percent jump in the number of what they call prevention claims - people who have homes but are on the brink of being on the street because of job loss, foreclosure or other personal crises.

In response, the group has added another shelter site to its schedule. It's also been trying to recruit more volunteers to staff shelters, Executive Director Beth Nabors said.

"We've done marketing all summer to bring in more volunteers, and we've revamped our training program to make sure our volunteers know the whole continuum of care at Journeys," Nabors said.

The anticipated increase isn't just because people are losing their homes to foreclosure, but also because some families are being kicked out of their apartments after landlords default on mortgages, Curran said.

Independently run, the various PADS groups, provide warming centers, showers, laundry, mail and telephone service, food and other assistance to homeless people.

In Lake County, two shelters will open today: a permanent site in Waukegan and a rotating facility. The following week, a second rotating facility will be open each night.

In all, the group has 14 emergency shelter sites in its rotation.

Overflow shelters will be available Mondays through Thursdays, too.

The Journeys group offers shelter at two locations at rotating sites on Sundays and Thursdays, and at three sites the rest of the week. It boasts 19 sites overall.

Typically, men, women and families are welcome at suburban shelters. Some shelters are handicap accessible; others ban smoking; on certain nights, some only are for men.

The shelters have maximum occupancies, but PADS workers try not to turn people away, Curran said.

"We try to figure out somewhere for them to go," she said.

This fall and winter, workers will check to ensure people seeking shelter at the PADS sites are Lake County residents and not from neighboring counties or elsewhere, Curran said. They'll also try to find alternative housing for people who collect Social Security benefits, she said.

PADS organizations also operate in McHenry and DuPage counties, in Elgin and in other communities.

Elgin's program runs year-round. It was full all summer, Executive Director Dennis Hewitt said.

"And the folks that we are seeing are, for the most part, new faces," he said.

The McHenry organization operates seasonal emergency shelters at seven sites and has one year-round facility.

The DuPage group's three emergency shelters also begin operating today. Like the other county's groups, the location rotates.