What is the purpose of this program?
The Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) renames the Emergency Shelter Grant and broadens existing emergency shelter and homelessness prevention activities and adds short and medium-term rental assistance and services to rapidly re-house homeless people. This program places a greater focus on rapid rehousing assistance for homeless persons.
The ESG Program provides funding to improve the number and quality of emergency shelters for homeless individuals and families, help operate these shelters, provide essential services to shelter residents, provide essential services necessary to reach out to unsheltered homeless people and connect them with housing and/or services, rapidly re-house homeless individuals and families, and prevent families/individuals from becoming homeless.
What services are offered?
- Counseling
- Case Management
- Alcohol and Substance Use Counseling
- Abuse Intervention
- Mental Health Services
- Education
- Employment Assistance
- Transportation
- House Location/Inspection
Program Components Include:
- Street outreach
- Emergency shelter (including supportive services)
- Rapid Re-Housing
- HMIS Component
- Administrative costs
Guiding Principles
Housing is a basic human need, agencies need to ensure it is accessible, safe, and affordable for participants
Participant's basic needs should be met first (food, housing, clothing, etc), with other needs focused on only after those are met (recovery, parenting, education, etc), then offered voluntarily
Participants have the right to set their own goals and make their own decisions, even if their goals are different than those of the agency providing the service. Subrecipients should work to reduce as many barriers to services as possible
Participants are the expert in what they need and how they can achieve their goals. Participants who are homeless are incredibly resilient and possess many strengths and assets, which should always be leveraged and considered in service delivery
Every participant has inherent dignity and worth, subrecipients need to treat participants in caring and respectful fashion, mindful of individual differences and cultural and ethnic diversity
Participants have the right to confidentiality and to be informed of their rights
Families, individuals, and children are better off in "home-like" settings rather than institutions
Emergency Solutions Grant Program Providers
For additional information, please contact: DHS.ESG@illinois.gov
