Officials say Lake County at inflection point in homelessness crisis; population growing as affordable housing lags behind
Lake County is approaching an inflection point in the homelessness crisis, as government leaders and stakeholders must decide if it is a shared problem with shared solutions, according to the executive director of the largest shelter service in the county.
“I do believe that in order for us to actually meet this challenge, we have to do it together,” said Allen Swilley, executive director of PADS Lake County. “So I think that very soon, there has to be a conversation with all leaders and stakeholders throughout the county about how to work together to solve what is becoming an entrenched social problem — homelessness.”
PADS Lake County is currently at capacity with its motel sheltering program, housing well over 400 people in motels across the county.
“That number is disappointing, but we’re able to manage it and we don’t really see it slowing down anytime soon,” Swilley said.
The number of families seeking shelter has grown in recent months, he added. Previously, single adults made up most of the homeless population, but Swilley said more families are facing unstable situations and ending up homeless.
Each week, the shelter organization sees about 45 new families requesting services.
A lack of affordable housing in the county makes it difficult for PADS to provide people with the resources they need to get out of homelessness.
“RIght now, we’ve got clients who have housing vouchers and housing opportunities, but they’re still in our shelter system because they have nowhere to go,” Swilley said. “The challenges are systemic.”
Barriers to housing for people in the shelter system include the price range of available housing and landlord requirements, such as demanding high credit scores or incomes that are three times higher than the rent.
A recent report from the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) found 15 municipalities in Lake County have critical shortages of available affordable housing, with less than 10% of the available housing stock considered affordable.
Generally in the county, new housing construction is falling behind population growth, according to a study commissioned by Lake County Partner, predicting a shortage of more than 19,000 housing units by 2027 if the current pace continues.
Additionally, the study found that at least 8,000 more affordable housing units are needed for seniors and families with incomes under $50,000 and $75,000, respectively.
Better results with hotel stays
In September, the shelter organization shifted operations from a rotating-church model to motel stays in order to provide better stability and services for clients in need.
The church model relied on volunteer church communities to offer up community halls or gymnasiums on a rotating basis as space for people to sleep at night. When morning came, however, the people would have to leave and find a place to stay during the day.
Providing shelter at a fixed location has many advantages. Instead of worrying about where they will be sleeping each night, people can focus on staying in one place and utilizing the case management support services.
If a client is having a challenge while staying at the hotel, PADS staff is on-site to help remediate. Swilley said there haven’t been many clashes between paying hotel guests and homeless residents.
“It’s been going pretty well, and I attribute that to PADS staff being on-site, but also the awesome and sensitive management of our clients by hotel staff,” he said.
PADS has seen better results when clients are at a fixed location, Swilley said. Case managers are able to be more effective and efficient in assisting their clients with needs, such as preparing for housing or helping with immediate issues, like medical or mental health care.
“Internally, we’ve leveraged the hotel shelter model to gain better access to our clients, to improve our service delivery, while simultaneously structuring our homeless outreach team in a way that allows for them to support local law enforcement, respond to library needs as clients begin to drift into libraries or show up in different places,” he said.
The homeless outreach team is able to be proactive in working with community partners that might encounter a person experiencing homelessness, and also in engaging with potential clients.
The outreach team was working with 28 people who were sleeping in their cars or on the street. Swilley said about half of those individuals are now in shelter.
At the end of the month, a countywide “point in time” count will occur, in which a group of volunteers will attempt to count each person who is experiencing homelessness, both in shelter and on the street.
The next step for PADS Lake County is identifying space for, and building a permanent shelter.
“We are aggressively working toward a fixed-site shelter,” Swilley said.
In 2020 PADS, with county grant money, commissioned IFF, formerly known as the Illinois Facilities Fund, to develop a design concept for a permanent shelter facility. The final design was informed by shelter residents, staff and other stakeholders, to design a site that provides both private and community space.
PADS and the county are working together to make the design a reality by finding a location for the permanent shelter.
“Homelessness is a 24/7/365 condition, and in Lake County we don’t have a 24/7/365 response,” Lake County community development administrator Brenda O’Connell said.
The county has some funds set aside to support the development of a permanent shelter once an appropriate location is identified, she said.
