By failing to provide necessary resources, Chicago’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness hurts the people it promises to help.

In 2003, Mayor Daley signed onto a 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in Chicago. The plan calls for ultimately replacing the current system that provides shelter to people on an emergency basis with a model that would move people into permanent housing and provide services to them once they were housed.

While CCH supports the concept of the city’s plan, we believe the city has not committed the necessary resources to see it through. The city has failed to create enough permanent housing that people transitioning from homelessness can afford. Meanwhile, the city has mandated that all emergency shelters must either close or convert to interim shelters that transition people into permanent housing -- housing that does not exist.

As a result of the city’s plan, shelters across the city are closing, and fewer beds are available for those who need them.

Before Chicago's 10-Year Plan was implemented, the city was already facing a shelter crisis. Since the Plan was implemented, there has been an increase in the number of people turned away from shelters. One emergency shelter, for example, saw turn-aways increase from 12,000 to 13,000 in one year.

In response to the city’s failure to provide necessary resources, CCH has convened a group of homeless service providers who share our concerns about the plan. The group meets regularly to take action and develop strategies to address our common concerns.

Read CCH’s report on concerns about the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness:

Unaddressed: Why Chicago’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness will not work. (PDF)

For more information, please contact Eithne McMenamin.