The new state budget includes an initiative to address homelessness in Illinois.
Governor JB Pritzker proposed “Home Illinois” earlier this year, and now a record $360-million in the budget will go towards ensuring everyone has a place to lay their head at night.
“Our New Home Illinois plan will focus on homelessness prevention, crisis response, temporary and permanent housing units and staffing to ensure that every person and every family that is unhoused or is potentially heading there has a fighting chance.”
The goal is to reach “functional zero” as a state, which would mean that there are enough resources to assist everyone about to become homeless.
Gov. Pritzker says more than 120,000 Illinoisans experience homelessness each year. Over 60% of those people are black.
