SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Governor J.B. Pritzker wants to ensure that homelessness in Illinois is eliminated.
The governor introduced “Home Illinois” at his budget address earlier this month to tackle the issue.
State officials says there are more than 120,000 homeless people in Illinois. At a House Committee meeting, Homeless Chief Christine Haley says they want to get that number down to zero.
“This isn’t some pie in the sky that we can end homelessness some day. When we say end homelessness, that really means that we have a system that when people come into a homelessness situation, that there’s a resource for them on the other side,” Haley said. “And that we are very quickly able to connect them to that said resource to stabilize their housing situation.”
Pritzker is seeking a $350 million investment in funding for Home Illinois to support a wide range of initiatives for it. It would be geared towards rental assistance, street outreach, and building more housing.
Haley says it’s vital to fund a wide range of angles and prepare for all situations to help tackle the homelessness issue.
“If we don’t invest in, for example, in prevention. Then we could do a lot of work on building more supportive housing and more shelter. But we aren’t preventing folks from entering the system,” Haley said.
In addition to helping homeless people find a home, Home Illinois also would provide support for programs to help homeless adults find and keep a job.
