25-02-2025
Concerns over homeless prevention programs rise as cuts loom
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (NEXSTAR) — Homeless advocates are concerned about the impact possible cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could have on local efforts to house the homeless.
The impact the widespread federal workforce cuts could have on HUD is not clear yet, but it's still making local organizations uneasy.
Heartland Housed helps the homeless in the Springfield area, and they rely on Federal funds for a third of it's funding, but that money isn't just dropped in the organizations accounts. Josh Sabo says they have to work to get as much money as they can, and HUD staff is often very helpful with that.
'Over the last several years as we've been working to implement our strategic plan, HUD staff has been incredibly helpful to us,' Director of Heartland Housed Josh Sabo said. 'We've had a HUD representative that helps us as we as different organizations have HUD grants, helps them navigate, that helps us to to figure out how to use those as a community most effectively.'
There is also a concern that the money would not move through the agency quickly, even if Congress still appropriates it.
'One of the main things that staff for the federal government at the Department of Housing and Urban Development do is make sure that the dollars and resources that Congress appropriated actually get out to local communities,' Bob Palmer with Housing Action Illinois said. 'And so if there aren't HUD staff where there's many fewer a staff, that's going to take longer for those dollars to get out to the local communities.'
And it comes at a time where organizations like Heartland Housed is making progress. In Springfield, the number of people in supportive housing programs has tripled.
Governor Pritzker launched Home Illinois in 2023. The program put almost $90 million more to social safety nets designed to prevent homelessness. There was also an increase in funding during 2024.
But in his proposed budget for this coming fiscal year, Pritzker proposed a $7 million cut, and he also proposed keeping the funding for the rehousing program flat.
'We understand the state is having significant budget challenges, but we did make the request based on a need and again, what we feel like the state needs to do to keep making progress,' Palmer said.
Housing Action Illinois pushed back against that proposed cut, especially since the costs for the services are also increasing.
'If federal government funding or government funding in general, federal, state or local is flat at a time when the costs of housing continue to go up and the costs of providing services also continue to go up, that means we will stop making progress and actually get further behind on again, getting to that end goal of making sure that we're preventing and treating all of this because we are coming from the perspective that housing is a basic human needs, a human right,' Palmer said.
While about a third of the funding for Heartland Housed comes from HUD funding, the other two thirds have come from the state. Sabo said that money has been much more consistent under the Pritzker administration.
'We're always advocating for increases in funding, whether it's the federal or the state level,' Sabo said. 'At the end of the day, we know this is a local challenge. And so it's important that that we as a local community, it's important that we as a local community figure out how to rally around solutions. And so one of the things we know is that we have to raise funds.'
Pritzker's proposal will act as a starting point for the legislature to negotiate the final version, which will likely be passed by the end of May.
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