Editorial: In Wheeling, a picture of hope for supportive housing
Last week we had occasion to praise Arlington Heights for making a statement on supportive housing by voting to let a project get under way. This week, we can turn to Wheeling to praise a project that's up and running, providing something more than housing for disabled people who need a place to live. It's providing a home.
The residents of the 50 units at the PhilHaven apartment building at 2418 W. Hintz Road come from many backgrounds. Some were homeless. Some transferred from nursing homes. Some are individuals living on their own. Some are single parents with children. Some were as young as 3 years old. One is as old as 105.
Some, said one speaker at a Grand Opening ceremony Monday, "for the very first time are going to be able to eat whatever they want to eat whenever they want to eat it."
The new residents began moving in last February. Local, county and state dignitaries were on hand Monday to celebrate their new opportunities and provide tours of the one-, two- and three-bedroom units that PhilHaven comprises.
What participants saw was an attractive, modern facility filled with opportunities for residents to build a comfortable and productive life.
"Behind me is a place that is not just a building, but a home to 50 households living with various kinds of disabilities who needed access not only to high-quality housing, but to the services that would help them stay in that housing and live the life they dream of," UP Development President Jessica Berzac told the gathering. "Now, 50 families are able to be housed and have a home where they feel safe ... and where they live with dignity."
Their new opportunity surely is something worth celebrating, but the need they represent also cries out for perspective. More than 200 people stood in line last August to try to get into PhilHaven. There is a waiting list of people who would like to get in if a unit becomes available. The nonprofit North/Northwest Suburban Task Force on Supportive Housing for People with Mental Illness estimates that projects like PhilHaven - or the 44-unit Spruce Village project under way in Palatine and the 16-unit project approved earlier this month in Arlington Heights - barely scratch the surface of the need. The volunteer group says thousands of people with mental illness are living in nursing homes, on the streets or in other substandard conditions at much higher costs to taxpayers than the combination of subsidies and personal resources required for supportive housing.
As we noted last week, decisions like those of leaders in Palatine and Arlington Heights put such individuals at the threshold of hope. Projects like Wheeling's PhilHaven give a vivid - and uplifting - picture of what that hope looks like.