Funding for Emergency and Transitional Housing Restored by Illinois General Assembly
Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Last night, the Illinois General Assembly approved a supplemental appropriations bill that restores cuts to several human service programs, including the $4.7 million cut to more than 100 nonprofit organizations in all parts of the state funded by the Emergency and Transitional Housing Program. Larger budget cuts restored include funding for mental health and substance abuse programs.

Most of the money in the $270 million bill will be used to fund the operation of seven state facilities for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities that had been slated for closure. (Hopefully, in the next year efforts to close these facilities and help people move into community-based housing will come to fruition.)

The bill was passed with bipartisan support and we expect Governor Quinn to sign the bill into law as soon as he receives it. Revenue to pay for the bill comes from reallocating existing resources.

For this victory, we especially want to thank all the nonprofit organizations funded by the Emergency and Transitional Housing Program that reached out to their legislators and the media during the last six months to communicate the impact of the cut on your ability to provide housing and services to people experiencing homelessness.

Thanks also to the more than 370 people contact their legislators through our action alert here at HousingMatters.net. We also greatly appreciate all the advocacy organizations that also worked on restoring the cut, including the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and the Supportive Housing Providers Association.

Read the update by clicking here.