FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHICAGO – All Chicago Making Homelessness announced that the City of Chicago is leading the nation‘s large cities‘ public housing authorities in utilizing Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs) issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
The City of Chicago was awarded 1,165 Emergency Housing Vouchers, the country‘s 6th largest allocation of vouchers. As of November 1, Chicago has utilized approximately 79% of the awarded vouchers, compared to the national average rate of 52%. The utilization of the EHVs was a collaborative effort involving All Chicago, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), and numerous homelessness service providers within the Chicago Continuum of Care (CoC).
The Emergency Housing Voucher program is the first-ever special-purpose voucher program within HUD to address homelessness that is not specific to veterans. Through the program, HUD awarded 70,000 housing choice vouchers to local public housing authorities to assist individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness; fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking; or who are recently homeless or have a high risk of housing instability.
“The successful utilization of these EHVs is largely due to the CoC’s quick action and partnership with the Chicago Housing Authority and All Chicago,” states Nicole Bahena, VP of Community Partnerships at All Chicago. “All Chicago coordinated referrals into EHVs and provided significant training, technical assistance, and coordination between CoC providers and CHA. In addition, Chicago Rents, a CoC program hosted by All Chicago, provided unit location services for those going into EHVs. Because of this system-level coordination, Chicago is leading the country in EHV utilization.”
Learn more about the EHV program and access the EHV dashboard at: www.hud.gov/ehv.
About All Chicago Making Homelessness History
All Chicago’s mission is to unite our community and resources to provide solutions that ensure and sustain the stability of a home. All Chicago prevents and ends homelessness through four signature approaches Emergency Financial Assistance, Community Partnerships, Data Analytics, and Training. Learn more at allchicago.org.
Media requests should be directed to Hank Sartin, Director of Communications at All Chicago, at hsartin@allchicago.org or 872-291-1278.
