093_HR0387

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 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.