By Michael Loria, October 7, 2022
Chicago nonprofit Humble Design fully furnished and customized the four-bedroom house within hours.
The house Lana Purnell and her three children left Friday morning wasn’t the same when they retuned in the early afternoon.
Continue reading Chicago Sun Times-Humboldt Park family’s home transformed: ‘I feel happy’October 5, 2022
A recent report by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless found that at least 65,000 people were experiencing homelessness in the city in 2020, which includes those who temporarily stayed with others in addition to people living in shelters and on the street.
Continue reading WTTW – New Report Offers Look into Homelessness in ChicagoBy LISA DENT September 20, 2022
Chicago Tribune reporter Maddie Ellis joins Lisa Dent on Chicago’s Afternoon News to explain a report released by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless which found that over 65,000 people experienced homelessness in 2020.
Continue reading Over 65,000 people in Chicago experienced homelessness in 2020By Maddie Ellis September 20, 2022
In 2020, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development identified 5,390 people experiencing homelessness in Chicago.
But in a new report released Tuesday, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless put forth a different count: 65,611.
Continue reading Chicago Tribune – An estimated 65,611 people in Chicago experienced homelessness in 2020, coalition report saysBy Kyle Swenson August 24, 2022
SEATTLE — Handwritten notes were everywhere, taped into car windows or tucked under windshield wipers or scrawled across van doors. They were public announcements and cryptic rants — tiny splashes of individuality amid the anonymity of garbage piles and ripped tarps surrounding the trailers and campers parked near the railroad tracks south of downtown.
Continue reading The Washington Post – America’s first homelessness problem: Knowing who is actually homelessBy Niya K. Kelly, Director of State Legislative Policy, Equity and Transformation
During this successful legislative session, CCH policy and organizing staff, alongside our grassroots leaders, worked on various initiatives to remove barriers for people experiencing homelessness.
Shared advocacy and organizing in Springfield resulted in increased funding for housing programs in the FY23 state budget as well as the passage of HB 5265, HB 4242, and HB 2775, bills that will support K-12 students, increase access to child care, and ban source of income discrimination for renters.
Continue reading CCH advocacy leads to passage of three bills, increased funding for housing programsBy Niya K. Kelly, Director of State Legislative Policy, Equity and Transformation
This year the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) is advocating for several statewide measures that would remove barriers for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. CCH policy and organizing staff, along with our grassroots leaders, are leading efforts to pass four bills that will impact students experiencing homelessness, extremely low-income families and children, and people using rental assistance or housing vouchers.
CCH is advocating for the following legislation:
Illinois school districts are permitted to charge students and their families annual mandatory fees. Fees can include textbooks, instructional materials, and school activities. These fees can add up quickly, putting a strain on low-income parents and guardians who are trying to make ends meet. Fortunately, public school students experiencing homelessness or whose families are classified as low-income have access to fee waivers. Charter schools are obligated to waive fees for students who are experiencing homelessness under the McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Act but are not required to waive fees for low-income students and their families.
HB 5265 will create parity between students at public schools and charter schools to ensure students and families living in poverty are not burdened by financial barriers to their educations.
We are grateful for the strong coalition of people with lived experience, community members, direct-service and advocacy organizations, institutional partners, donors, and volunteers who are working every single day to prevent and end homelessness.
Strong community support contributed to CCH’s many accomplishments over the last year. Read more about our shared victories during Calendar Year 2021 in our annual report.
The Illinois House Appropriations-Human Services Committee will vote on HB4423 this Thursday, February 24 at 8 a.m.
HB4423 would support families living in extreme poverty by increasing the cash assistance families receive each month. This increase would ensure families are able to meet their basic needs including paying rent, purchasing clothing, hygiene products, and maintaining transportation. This legislation would also ensure that when a noncustodial parent pays child support that the money goes directly to the family. Currently, the state and federal government are given a portion of the child support payment.
Please file a witness slip on behalf of your organization or yourself to indicate your support for an increase in the TANF Cash Grant amount and ensure that child support payments go directly to the child.
How to fill out the online witness slip:
UPDATE: Thanks to the shared advocacy of our community, Facilitating Equity in Education for Students (FEES) (House Bill 5265) was moved out of committee with unanimous, bipartisan support on February 16. Sixty-five people submitted witness slips as proponents of the bill.
Representative Will Guzzardi, CCH Grassroots Leader and Board Member Maxica Williams, and CCH Education Attorney Alyssa Phillips testified at the hearing. CCH is grateful to be one step closer to ensuring every student in Illinois has access to a free and comprehensive education.
Read our fact sheet on HB5265 here.
