The Office to Prevent and End Homelessness regularly develops, or funds partners to develop, reports to improve statewide understanding of homelessness, opportunities to improve support for people experiencing homelessness, and to make progress on Illinois' supportive and affordable housing development needs, among other subjects.
These include:
Black Homelessness in Illinois: Structural Drivers of Inequality
On April 25, 2024, Governor Pritzker, Chief Homelessness Officer Christine Haley, the Racial Equity Roundtable on Black Homelessness, and IRRPP released Black Homelessness in Illinois: Structural Drivers of Inequality and an accompanying Action Plan from the State of Illinois.
The report highlights that Black Illinoisans are nearly eight times more likely to experience homelessness than white residents, with Illinois having one of the worst disparities in the nation. It shifts the focus away from erroneous narratives of individual blame, addressing the structural factors driving racial disparities. Specific structural drivers of the disparity explored in the report include affordable housing, evictions, incarceration, and unemployment. The report also includes personal stories from Illinoisans with lived expertise of homelessness.
View ReportView Video
One System Initiative Phase 1 Recommendations Report
The One System Initiative is a name for the work among the State of Illinois, City of Chicago and community partners to unify the shelter system supporting new arrivals experiencing homelessness in the Chicago area and the shelter system that supports other community members experiencing homelessness.
The initiative launched in the Spring of 2024 and began with a community-led planning phase funded by the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, which developed a vision, core values, and recommendations for an equitable, unified system serving new arrivals and longer-term residents experiencing homelessness. The recommendations focus on key areas including community integration of people experiencing homelessness, provider coordination, data, training, shelter services and shelter access points in the unified system.
A report documenting the One System Initiative Phase I community-led process and recommendations in more detail is available below.
View Report pdf
Housing Assistance Council Report: Preventing and Eliminating Homelessness in Rural Illinois
This report on rural homelessness in Illinois commissioned by the Illinois Office to Prevent and End Homelessness from the Housing Assistance Council highlights the need to address root causes and structural barriers to ending homelessness in rural communities. It highlights a set of recommendations including expanding housing resources for farmworkers and the expansion of 2-1-1 coverage to improve access to housing assistance. OPEH has incorporated these recommendations into its Home Illinois FY25-26 plan, including a strategy for 2-1-1 development.
View Report
Illinois State Police: Illinois Law Enforcement Response to Homelessness Guidebook
The ISP Illinois Law Enforcement Response to Homelessness Guidebook, developed with funding support from OPEH, supports law enforcement agencies to better understand and respond homelessness and housing instability in their communities. It highlights the importance of community collaboration and up-to-date information on referrals and processes to improve service delivery. By using best practices and providing officers with training and resources, the Guidebook helps law enforcement agencies enhance their policies and strategies for addressing homelessness.
The Illinois State Police Division of Academy and Training also offers virtual training to support local law enforcement implementing the Guidebook. To request training materials on this initiative, please send an email to ISP.HomelessnessProject@illinois.gov
View Guidebook
Illinois Homeless Service Workforce
Produced by the Workforce Policy Lab at Northern Illinois University for the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, this report outlines the need for Illinois to significantly expand its homeless and supportive housing workforce to prevent and end homelessness statewide. It emphasizes the importance of recruitment and retention strategies, including wage increases, staff wellness, and career development opportunities. The report highlights current staffing shortages and recommends investments in workforce development to build a resilient and trained workforce capable of addressing homelessness effectively. By strengthening this workforce, Illinois can develop a system that allows homelessness is to be rare, brief, and nonrecurring.
Report to be posted shortly. Please email homeless.office@illinois.gov to receive an electronic copy.
Illinois Homelessness Mortality and Morbidity 2017-2022 Report
Recognizing a need to better understand the health of people experiencing homelessness, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health partnered to produce a report on the state of health of people experiencing homelessness. The report was funded by the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, who also collaborated on the project. The report, released July 30, 2024, analyzes statewide death certificates and hospital records from 2017-2022 for people experiencing homeless. The reality is staggering - the study found Illinoisans experiencing homelessness die almost 18 years earlier than their housed counterparts. But this reality is not inevitable- the report points to particular drivers of the life expectancy gap, and serves as a valuable tool for health care providers, policy makers, advocates and others to understand opportunities to better support the health of people experiencing homelessness.
View Report and Webinar
Community Advisory Council Report
The Community Advisory Council on Homelessness delivers recommendations to the Interagency Task Force on Homelessness annually, as required by 20 ILCS 1305/10-75. These recommendations inform the work of the Interagency Task Force on Homelessness, the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, and the Home Illinois Plan. See the Council's 2024 recommendations here: Recommendations to the Illinois Interagency Task Force on Homelessness (pdf) and it's 2023 recommendations here: Recommendations to the Illinois Interagency Task Force on Homelessness (pdf)
View 2024 Report pdfView 2023 Report pdf
