REALITIES
Annually, more than $29 million in public funds are invested in homeless shelter and services to support more than 4,800 beds in Chicago. Because most shelter beds are full nearly every night that means its costs nearly $22 per night per bed in public funding. As the Chicago Continuum of Care states, this cost equates to an equivalent of a $660 monthly rent subsidy for each bed. A family of four is absorbing more than $2,400 per month within the homeless service delivery system. This reality is forcing the system to reevaluate how resources are most effectively allocated.
Advocates say that the average age of a person who is homeless in the United States is 9 years old. Family homelessness increased during 2002 here in Chicago by 33 percent. The City of Chicago, through homeless service program serves some 32,000 unduplicated people who are homeless per year through its 4,800 beds. These shelter beds strive to serve the immediate needs of homeless persons by providing a place to sleep and a meal.
In today's homeless crisis, where affordable housing is scarce, transitional shelters full, SROs decreasing, jobs that pay a living wage hard to acquire and public assistance declining, residents of emergency shelters are remaining in the Centers for longer periods of time. Shelter space is often scarce in peak demand periods. In Chicago, 15,361 people were denied shelter because of lack of bed space. 9,874 of those people who were denied shelter were individuals in families. (Chicago Department of Human Services)
Emergency shelter residents reflect a diverse homeless population. Many are suffering from the trauma associated with the brutality of poverty: Many women are fleeing from domestic violence, as many as 38% of the shelter residents are suffering from addiction issues, 63% of the participants were physically abused, 74% emotionally abused, 53% raped or sexually abused, 96 % had experience trauma related to loss of housing or job, 70% were victims of domestic violence, 30% had witnessed a murder or violent attack, 60% had experienced a disaster at home such as a fire or flood.
Many suffer from inadequate preventative health care treatment and lack of access to medical care and medications. The stress of poverty and homelessness exacerbate the effects of mental illness and addiction on this vulnerable population. In addition, according to a violence/stress inventory taken by the Network's support group participants, 95% of mothers who have used the Network's services have witnessed or experienced violent attacks. This factor further isolates mothers who are homeless and adds to the already traumatic mental health climate in which they live.
In response to the increase in homelessness the Interfaith Council moved in a new direction to attack homelessness. The "housing first model" provides for families living in shelters. This housing first approach to homeless service delivery has been adopted by the Chicago Continuum of Care's five year Strategic Plan, Getting Housed, Staying Housed. The model works to provide assertive support services and a permanent housing model that assists the placement of families living in shelters into permanent housing congruently providing on-going support to those housed families. The "housing first" model's philosophy is that families are much more stable once housed, so housing placement is a key component. Once housed, the resulting housing stability provides a much better environment for the family's development. Interfaith Council has played a significant part in the advocacy for this service delivery shift.
