Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation Wednesday that seeks to effectively end homelessness in Illinois by marshaling the resources of multiple agencies into one effort.
At a bill-signing ceremony at Featherfist, a homeless services organization in Chicago, Pritzker said the goal of the initiative is to bring homelessness in Illinois to “functional zero.”
Christine Haley, the state’s current chief homelessness officer and chair of the interagency task force, said Black people and other people of color are disproportionately affected by homelessness. State Rep. Lindsey LaPointe, D-Chicago, who was the lead sponsor of the bill in the House, said that on any given night, an estimated 4,500 people in Illinois are without shelter and the average wait time for someone to receive housing services is 802 days. She also noted that in Fiscal Year 2022, 9,800 people were turned away from emergency shelters.
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