093_HR0387
LRB093 09912 LCB 10162 r
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The General Assembly of the State of Illinois is
3 committed to seeing that every one of the citizens of the
4 State of Illinois has decent, safe, and affordable housing;
5 and
6 WHEREAS, A growing number of citizens of the State of
7 Illinois are currently homeless; shelter nights rose by 24%
8 from 2000 to 2001 (before the current economic turndown), as
9 shown by Illinois Department of Human Services data (25% in
10 Chicago, 23% in the rest of the state-43% in the collar
11 counties, 1% in the northern counties, 25% in the central
12 counties, and 54% in the southern counties); and
13 WHEREAS, In the last 10 years, the number of shelter
14 nights for the whole State rose by 89%, with increases
15 experienced every year since 1994; and
16 WHEREAS, Homelessness is very expensive in terms of
17 public dollars expended for emergency hospital visits,
18 in-patient stays, emergency substance abuse treatment, and
19 jail stays; it is very costly in terms of human suffering and
20 generations of lives wasted; and it is very demoralizing to
21 all citizens; and
22 WHEREAS, Supportive housing has been shown, through
23 extensive research, to be effective in enabling even the most
24 vulnerable people and families to remain housed and to take
25 appropriate steps to move toward employment and independence;
26 it has been shown to be cost efficient, virtually expending
27 the same amount in public dollars as the costs of
28 homelessness, in a recent major study; and
29 WHEREAS, The long term and repeatedly homeless
30 individuals and families comprise only approximately 20% of
31 the total homeless population, but use approximately 80% of
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1 the total shelter days, effectively living in the shelter
2 system; and
3 WHEREAS, This use of homeless services does not end the
4 homelessness of these most vulnerable individuals and
5 families using the services; at the same time, it prevents
6 other more short-term or transitionally homeless families and
7 individuals who could benefit from the services from
8 accessing these services; therefore, be it
9 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
10 NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
11 the General Assembly commits itself, along with a growing
12 number of states and cities across the nation, to end
13 long-term or repeated homelessness in Illinois in 10 years
14 by:
15 (1) creating and sustaining 8,000 units of permanent
16 supportive housing in Illinois in the coming decade targeted
17 for the most vulnerable homeless families and individuals;
18 (2) ending the practice of discharging large numbers of
19 people into homelessness from hospitals, mental health and
20 chemical dependency treatment facilities, jails, and prisons;
21 (3) securing investments in additional affordable and
22 supportive housing alternatives, so that supportive housing
23 can be made available to those who do become homeless and
24 need support service to stay housed; and
25 (4) gradually shifting resources in a manner determined
26 by each community so that those who become homeless can be
27 expediently re-housed and connected to supportive services;
28 and be it further
29 RESOLVED, That the General Assembly will consider the
30 above goals and strategies in establishing its policies and
31 budgets; and be it further
32 RESOLVED, That the members of the General Assembly will
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1 take steps to encourage the municipalities, counties,
2 townships, other governmental bodies and related agencies to
3 adopt these goals and strategies for establishing their
4 policies and budgets.