What is the One System Initiative?
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 here: One System Initiative Recommendations pdf.
Key among these values are ensuring equitable access to shelter and other supports for people experiencing homelessness across populations, while recognizing the unique needs of individuals, and strengthening the homeless service system, to build toward a long-term, resilient network which can scale up and down in times of increased need.
The second phase, begun in late August 2024, focused on the City of Chicago and State of Illinois beginning implementation planning for a unified homeless service system in the Chicago area. The third phase, rolling implementation, began in the fall of 2024 and is continuing throughout 2025.
The One System Initiative has been an opportunity for the State, City of Chicago, and many community partners, including those with lived expertise in both systems, to reflect on the first two years of the new arrivals response and move toward a place of long term operations.
As a result of the One System Initiative, beginning January 1st, 2025 all of the State and City-funded shelter beds in the Chicago area are open to all people seeking shelter, regardless of how long they have been in Chicago.
In addition, the Landing Zone which served as the intake and shelter placement center for the new arrivals response, closed on December 19, 2024. On December 20, 2024 a new Shelter Placement and Resource Center (SPARC) opened. The SPARC is a physical shelter access point open to any adult seeking shelter. The SPARC provides up to 200 overflow beds for persons awaiting shelter placement and basic services including diversion, out migration, and meals. Additional implementation of the One System Initiative is continuing in 2025.
