Hesed House to have family shelter, more permanent supportive housing
Families soon will be able to stay together overnight at Aurora's Hesed House shelter, thanks to recent renovations.
The remodeled facility now has an emergency overnight family area on the first floor that includes a communal living/dining space along with a kitchen, bathrooms and laundry machines that are all separate from the main shelter.
Fathers will be able to sleep in the family shelter with their children, unlike in the regular shelter, which has separate sleeping areas for men, women and women with children.
And one of the new amenities is a bathtub, which will be especially welcome for bathing children and babies, facilities director Jim Krznarzick said.
The remodeled space should provide a more peaceful environment for children, he said, so they can concentrate on their schoolwork.
He expects it to open next week.
The family shelter is part of the former Transitional Living Community. The TLC housed people enrolled in programs to get them back into a home of their own, including classes in household management, how to stay employed and how to manage money.
That ended Aug. 31. Ryan Dowd, executive director, said national research has shown such on-site programs were not as cost-effective as initially believed. Those who successfully completed the program likely could have become independent without such aid, he said.
The shelter will keep its off-site transitional housing, where people rent from a private landlord and the shelter provides financial assistance that gradually diminishes, plus some social services.
The 16 dormitory-style rooms that TLC residents lived in are being refurbished as permanent supportive housing on the second floor. There is a new communal kitchen, an updated laundry, bathrooms and common area. Residents can eat their meals in the main dining room of the emergency shelter, or cook their own.
The permanent supportive units will be used by chronically homeless people - people government and shelter officials believe will never be able to live independently without continual assistance.
Hesed receives federal funding for permanent supportive housing, which it currently offers in 25 to 30 apartments throughout the community. The federal government defines a "chronically homeless" person as either an individual with a disabling condition who has been continuously homeless for a year or more, or who has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.
Disabling conditions can include substance abuse, serious mental illness, developmental disabilities or chronic physical illness or disabilities, that limit their ability to work or do tasks of everyday life.
Potential clients are assessed for their vulnerability to bad outcomes if they continue to be homeless, and ranked, by the Kane County Continuum of Care.
"A lot of their problems actually calm down" once they are in permanent supportive housing, Dowd said, leading to a net saving of money since they aren't using ambulances, hospitals and jails as much.
Charles Vincent George Architects of Naperville and WT Engineer Group of Hoffman Estates have donated their services.
George Architects is doing the design work; WT has donated engineering for the plumbing, mechanical and electrical work.
"When you see the number of people Hesed House serves, it's pretty incredible," said Bruce George, president and chief executive officer of Charles Vincent George Architects. " It's not hard to want to support their mission of providing a warm, safe place to stay with food and facilities. When you've been blessed, you have to give back."