Springfield and Sangamon County’s 2022-2028 Strategic Plan to Address Homelessness was finalized in the fall of 2022. The plan’s ambitious goals aim to help our community reach “functional zero” homelessness in 2028. Functional zero is the point when a community’s homeless system of care can prevent homelessness whenever possible and ensure that when homelessness does occur, it is rare, brief and one-time. As we enter 2024, we have been exploring progress made in each of the plan’s four core strategies during the first year of the plan’s implementation and planning initiatives to make additional progress in the year ahead.
The plan’s strategies focus on creating new supportive housing opportunities, improving the effectiveness of our local system of care, increasing partnerships and developing sustainable local infrastructure to support growth and improvement in the homelessness system. A new nonprofit organization, Heartland HOUSED, was established in October of 2022 to provide staff support for the Heartland Continuum of Care and serve as the lead agency working to reach the plan’s goals. Capital Township, the city of Springfield and Sangamon County committed financial resources to ensure sustainability of Heartland HOUSED and to hire needed staff to support reaching the plan’s goals.
While a great deal of work lies ahead for our community to continue to build the resources and system response necessary to help people end their experience of homelessness, we are excited about progress made over the past year. Funding is a key component of the equation to help people access a quality place to live and to cover the cost of case management and supportive services. From 2012 to 2020, HUD funding allocated to the Heartland Continuum of Care (HCoC) to address homelessness dropped from $658,000 to about $400,000 because of the competitive process HUD uses to allocate funding. In 2023, the HCoC won new funding from HUD for the first time in more than a decade. Additionally, new funding from the state was allocated through the HCoC to create 142 new supportive housing opportunities by July of this year. This amount almost doubles the supportive housing opportunities available prior to the strategic plan’s development.
New funding supports local organizations in hiring additional case management staff and providing rental support in units throughout our community. HCoC’s housing navigator works to engage local landlords to help people exiting homelessness connect to quality, affordable units. New permanent supportive housing units were developed in Springfield in 2023 largely through state funding, making the first such development that provides housing through the HCoC Coordinated Entry List in Sangamon County’s history. Efforts are ongoing to develop similar new projects and support local landlords who are working to renovate existing housing in order to ensure that our community grows the stock of affordable, quality housing units.
Recognizing that no one organization can effectively address a complex social issue such as homelessness on its own, Heartland HOUSED and the Heartland Continuum of Care have adopted a Collective Impact approach in line with the strategic plan’s aims. With the shared goal of reaching functional zero in 2028, we are working to support and foster deeper levels of collaboration among local partners who are assisting people in their efforts to reach safe and stable housing. In 2023, the HCoC developed community standards to provide clearer expectations and best practices for organizations providing supportive housing, conducting street outreach, and operating emergency shelter. The Coordinated Entry System that is used to assess and match people who are unhoused with supportive housing opportunities was evaluated and revamped to improve effectiveness. New task groups have been created to support discharge planning efforts, develop medical respite care, encourage housing development and connect people to workforce opportunities. The recent opening of Helping Hands’ new facility provides a strong foundation for people to access housing focused services and other support to move toward stable housing.
This year, new initiatives are already under way to help our community take next steps toward a more effective homelessness response system. A new partnership with Community Solutions, which helped Rockford reach functional zero for veterans and people experiencing chronic homelessness, will guide the HCoC’s work to adopt the Built for Zero model and provide our community with a data dashboard that will monitor inflow and outflow into the homelessness system. With support from RE!NSTITUTE, a 100-day challenge will be undertaken with the goal of improving our local response to unsheltered homelessness. With these new efforts and more underway, community support is more crucial than ever. We welcome you to reach out to Heartland HOUSED or an organization you are already supporting to learn additional ways you can help our community continue to move forward.
Josh Sabo is executive director of Heartland HOUSED.
