Illinois Shelter Alliance calls for $100 million state funding boost to fight homelessness

With homelessness increasing in Illinois, a coalition of shelter providers and advocates is calling for a $100 million increase in state funding to prevent homelessness and provide shelter to people without homes.

That would come on top of the $290 million the state is spending this year on homelessness services.

Advocates hope the new funding can build on lessons the state learned since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in opening new shelters and accommodations that better meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness.

The coalition, known as the Illinois Shelter Alliance, sent a letter to Gov. JB Pritzker in December, making the request ahead of the new General Assembly’s January inauguration. But finding new state money for any programs will be a tough sell in Springfield this year, with the state facing a $3.2 billion shortfall for the new fiscal year that begins in July.

Homelessness increasing

The number of people experiencing homelessness in Illinois more than doubled between 2023 and 2024, according to federal data released this month.

Most of that increase was a result of migrants who came to Chicago — many of them on buses chartered by Texas state agencies. That influx has since subsided.

But the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development noted the number of people experiencing homelessness also increased in most of the rest of the state, too. The federal report attributed that growth to a lack of affordable housing, increased shelter capacity, extreme cold that brought people into shelter when the count was conducted last January and a rising cost of living while federal pandemic aid ended.

Last month, Pritzker created a new position in his administration tasked with increasing the supply of affordable housing. He also revived the SmartBuy program, providing financial assistance for student loan relief and affordable mortgages for homebuyers.

Pritzker also noted his administration has increased funding for Home Illinois, a collaboration between state agencies and service providers that aims to end homelessness. It received $90 million more in fiscal year 2024 over the previous year.

Pandemic-sparked changes

Before the pandemic, there weren’t many permanent homeless shelters in Illinois outside of Chicago, Rockford and Aurora, said Doug Kenshol, executive director of South Suburban Public Action to Deliver Shelter, or PADS. That left the job of providing pop-up shelter for sleeping through the night largely to churches and temples.

But the nature of the pandemic required less congregate and more isolated forms of shelter to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Organizations like PADS used federal funding from the 2021 pandemic relief law known as the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA — as well as other grant funding — to purchase properties themselves and create non-congregate housing across the state.

The new approach improved constituents’ mental and physical health, safety and ability to find resources to help them find employment, job training and more, Kenshol said.

When the federal pandemic money for shelters was about to run out two years ago, the Pritzker administration used $85 million in state money to continue those services.

“So we didn’t fall off a cliff and lose all of that shelter capacity,” Kenshol said.

Advocates and shelter providers say another $100 million would help address a statewide shortage of 4,236 emergency shelter beds and to prevent people from losing their homes.

“One of the reasons why we have this significant request for not just one activity, it’s four activities: street outreach, emergency shelter, keeping people in their homes, prevention resources so they’re not falling into the street,” said Lynda Schueler, CEO of Housing Forward, a faith organization providing shelter in suburban Cook County.

High cost of homelessness

The alliance pointed to a July report from the Illinois Department of Public Health that laid out the high costs of homelessness.

The agency found a 10- to 20-year reduction in life span in people experiencing homelessness, a 36% increase in deaths of people experiencing homelessness since the start of the pandemic and almost three times the number of people experiencing homelessness murdered in comparison to the general population. It also found the cost in medical care of people experiencing homelessness was more than $16 billion from 2017-2022.

The alliance’s request includes $40 million for emergency and transitional housing.

According to Home Illinois’ most recent report in October, “On any given night in Illinois, an estimated 25,806 people are experiencing literal homelessness — living in shelters and transitional housing programs, in parks and abandoned buildings, in cars and in barns. … tens of thousands of Illinois families live temporarily and unstably with family and friends.”

April Redzic, president and CEO of DuPage PADS, said her organization doubled the number of beds it could provide at the onset of the pandemic by buying property for non-congregate shelters.

“We discovered that that model was super effective, not only for mental health and physical health outcomes being better, but also we were able to get kids into school, and we were able to make sure families were safe and more stable. And that was really incredible,” Redzic said.

While DuPage PADS increased capacity for non-congregate shelter, the number of people requiring shelter also has increased, Redzic said.

“Last year, we had about 20 people on our waitlist going into the winter, and we have 87 right now, so more than a quadruple increase,” Redzic said. “A couple things have happened since 2020. Rents have gone up about at least 40% in the state of Illinois … As that’s gone up, they have spent more and more of their income on housing. And then they get evicted.”

Schueler blamed the higher number of people experiencing homelessness on a lack of affordable housing. She said when people can’t exit shelters to affordable housing, they get stuck in the system. This also keeps shelters at capacity and prevents others experiencing homelessness from entering shelters. These gridlocks have imposed a long stay time for shelter residents, sometimes as long as 276 days, Schueler said.

‘Prolonged, regular public investment’

Bob Palmer, the policy director for Housing Action Illinois, a group that advocates for more housing for low- and moderate-income Illinois residents, credited the governor for swiftly addressing homelessness during the pandemic. In particular, he noted Pritzker issued an eviction moratorium during the pandemic “stronger than the federal moratoriums that existed.”

“It’s going to take more than just two years of this significant new investment from the state to change the situation in terms of how many people are experiencing homelessness or how many people have housing insecurity,” Palmer said. “We need prolonged, regular public investments in affordable housing and ending homelessness.”