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It Takes a Home to Raise a Child Campaign
Homelessness Prevention Funding Call-In Day to Governor Blagojevich
Wednesday, December 21
Call Governor Blagojevich at 217-782-6830 or 312-814-2121.
Leave a message asking Governor Blagojevich to include $11 million in Homelessness Prevention funding in next year's budget.
December 21 is National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day and the first day of winter. Governor Blagojevich will be releasing the fiscal year 2007 budget on February 15, so time to influence the budget is running out.
Background
The Illinois Homelessness Prevention Fund was created in 1999 as a result of the It Takes a Home to Raise a Child Campaign. The program provides emergency assistance to households experiencing a temporary crisis to prevent them from becoming homeless. The program can provide rent, utility, and mortgage payments as well as other supportive services to address the reason for the crisis.
In six years, the program has prevented 43,000 households from experiencing homelessness, with 80% remaining housed 6-18 months after receiving assistance. The Homeless Prevention Fund is administered through the Illinois Department of Human Services and is distributed to local agencies throughout the state.
Since FY 2003, funding for the program has remained at around $5 million. Due to increased rent and utilities cost this year, the average grant increased from $507 to $591.
Because of this increased costs, Homeless Prevention funds served 23% fewer households than last year (8,314 households compared to 10,837 households in FY 2004).
In November, we completed a survey of the 62 providers of prevention funds in Illinois. Forty-five providers (73%) responded to the survey. The survey showed that the current resources for the program do not come close to meeting the need, as demonstrated by the following findings:
1. 90% of survey respondents stated there was not enough funding to meet the need in their community.
2. 82% stated they needed at least twice as much funding to meet the need in their community.
3. More than 40,000 requests for assistance by eligible households went unmet due to lack of funds.
4. Statewide, an estimated 103, 632 requests for assistance were received in FY ‘05.
5. The number of requests for assistance per month for an agency ranged from 5 to 2,500 with the average number being 176.
Bob Palmer
Policy Director
Housing Action Illinois
11 E. Adams #1501
Chicago, IL 60603
312-939-6074 x. 4 (phone)
www.housingactionil.org
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