Non-Congregate Shelter for Families

Imagine the benefits of a non-congregate shelter for families experiencing homelessness! Picture a welcoming shelter space offering families individual hotel-style rooms with a toilet, sink, and shower in each room. The Non-congregate model shelter affords moms, dads, and kids greater privacy, dignity, and wellness.

Studies show that more families move from homelessness to permanent housing from non-congregate shelters, but the benefits start long before families move into their new homes. The following are just a few scenarios. Parents with teens would have a chance to retreat into a private space to nurture their relationships with each other. Also, families with members who have special needs or disabilities would have better health and emotional balance. It is not uncommon for a parent to bring a newborn into the shelter, an individual room would produce healing, rest, and recovery for a mother and newborn, reducing physical and emotional exhaustion.

Shelter guests will still have ready access to their case managers and other CCO staff. Research shows that guests in non-congregate shelters have a higher rate of staff engagement. Families benefit when parents access assistance and get help to stabilize their future.

Cornerstone endeavors to provide the very best shelter experience to vulnerable families experiencing homelessness. Over the years, all of Cornerstone’s shelter spaces have had construction renovations and upgrades. As a result, some shelter programs have semi-non-congregate rooms, offering families private rooms with shared bathroom facilities.

Through your ongoing support, Cornerstone will continue to welcome families of all sizes and descriptions into safe shelter spaces with wrap-around services. We believe everyone can benefit from non-congregate shelter units, and Cornerstone hopes to make this advantageous shelter model a reality.

Together, we can provide and improve shelter facilities for families experiencing homelessness!
Click here to donate today.

Non-Congregate Shelter Project @ 1140 W Wilson

Update March 1, 2024:
We are grateful for all the support Cornerstone has received from everyone in pursuing a location alongside the Department of Housing and Department of Family & Support Services to create non-congregate shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness in Chicago.

Part of that work was to go before the Department of Planning and Development Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA), to request Special Use Zoning to convert 1140 W Wilson building to shelter. During the meeting there were some commercial businesses and neighborhood residents that opposed having a shelter in the area, and some opposed to the request being made on that day, asking for more time to work out their objections.

Due to the time constrictions on the project, the hearing moved forward, and after over four hours of cross-examination and discussion, the ZBA was split on their vote to grant the Special use, and the request did not pass. Due to that, Cornerstone is not pursuing 1140 W Wilson as a possible site, and is working on other sites for that program.

What each of us can do is to continue to support Cornererstone’s ongoing operations, and stay tuned! Cornerstone is still working toward the same objective, and as new opportunities arise, we will continue to keep you updated. 


Cornerstone Community Outreach is a grantee partner of the City of Chicago’s Non-Congregate Shelter Acquisition Program, and is proposing to acquire the property 1140 W. Wilson Ave in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, complete targeted updates and renovations, and transition their existing shelter program operations to the site upon completion.

Community Supporters

Organizations

The Buddhist Temple of Chicago – 1151 W. Leland Ave

Chicago Homelessness & Health Response Group for Equity (CHHRGE)

Citizen Skate Shop – 922 W Wilson Ave

Everybody’s Coffee 935 W. Wilson Ave

Heartland Alliance Health – 4750 N. Sheridan Rd

Illinois State Senator Mike Simmons – 1040 W. Bryn Mawr Ave

Illinois State Representative Hoan Huynh – 1967 W. Montrose Ave

Jesus People Covenant Church – 920 W. Wilson Ave

MADO Healthcare – 4621 N. Racine Ave

Missio Dei Chicago – 931 W. Wilson Ave

New Friendly Towers SRO – 920 W. Wilson Ave

Nine3nine Creative – 939 W. Wilson Ave

Northside Action for Justice – 1020 W Bryn Mawr Ave

ONE Northside – 4648 N Racine Ave

Uptown Peoples Law Center – 4413 N Sheridan Rd

Uptown Bikes – 4653 N Broadway

Uptown Ace Hardware – 4654 N. Broadway

Voice of the People – 4611 N. Sheridan Road

And as of today there are an additional 95 letters of support from local residents of Uptown within 4 blocks of the site!

Medically Integrated Shelter

In May 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cornerstone published some ideas around what care in shelters should begin to change to. The idea was for there to be a Medically Integrated Shelter Model. This isn’t a new idea for Cornerstone, but the pandemic gave the opportunity for more discussion to be had due to the increased and emergency medical needs.

Below is an excerpt from that document, that was written specifically for adaptation at Cornerstone.

Cornerstone Community Outreach
Medically Integrated Shelter
Draft from May 2020

The majority of people who are experiencing homelessness have underlying medical vulnerabilities and or behavioral health issues. Our experiences show that there are not enough resources activated in the shelter system to meet these needs. And in many ways these issues can be barriers to accessing permanent housing and are part of the cause of their current situation. This isn’t new information to those working with people experiencing homelessness, but this current pandemic has highlighted it. And as so many entities and individuals are joining together in this moment to care for this population, the clarity across the whole sector is so powerful, and the “what if’s” being asked are great.

The “what if” that we’ve been asking for a long time, prior to COVID, is what if the shelter model in Chicago had fully integrated medical and behavioral health care alongside the normal shelter services? How much more fully could we serve and provide for the individuals and families in Chicago that come to us all for support and care? And applicable to this current pandemic, how would this new model reduce the isolation response needed, like what has to be done using the respite spaces at A Safe Haven, the Y’s, and the boutique hotels downtown?

So as this idea is resonating with more people now, we have been putting real-world thought to what this would look like for the system, or at least at Cornerstone. Any of the ideas we have are in “draft” mode, perceived from our perspective, and we do want them looked at from others perspectives. We have been working with an architect for general drawings and costs too. For simplicity I’ve put them in bullet point format, and they are just an example of how we could address the idea of a Medically Integrated Shelter Model.

Background

Three of our shelters are congregate and one is semi-private with shared bathrooms, and all had different positivity rates. Rates include residents and staff.

Sylvia Interim, shelter for families in semi-private rooms, had zero cases of COVID-19 Naomi, congregate shelter for women had 53% positivity rate
Epworth, congregate shelter for men, had a 11% positivity rage
Hannah Interim, congregate for families, had a 14% positivity rate

Isolation onsite for people who tested positive was tried but not optimal and probably increased the spread of COVID-19, as in all programs there are shared bathrooms, shared eating spaces, and no clear way to keep individuals apart. It was also detrimental not having medical staff to keep and eye on them as their symptoms worsened.
WIth the decompression of the shelters, our capacity dropped by half, though we are willing to provide for more.

How to upgrade to a Medically Integrated Shelter Model

The overarching idea is to combine the resources and abilities of an existing shelter provider with medical and behavioural health providers, and have the shelter facilities built out to meet a continuum of needs. There is the model of respite coming out of hospital, but not a model providing the support for people coming “off the streets” into shelter, and that’s where we see ourselves doing what we do best.

How it could be envisioned for us is Cornerstone would continue to operate Interim Shelter based on the CDFSS model. As the need or methods from CDFSS changes so do we.

For reference, normally Cornerstone has around 330 people staying in it’s shelters. 80 women, 65 men, and family shelter for up to 185 people. However with decompression there are only around 160 total residents, and when we scale up to maximum at a social distancing spacing, we would fit around 270.

  • Cornerstone partners with an FQHC, such as Heartland Alliance Health, to provide shelter-based medical and behavioral healthcare.
  • Currently HAH is providing a day of onsite primary care, and we are working out best methods to grow this.
  • We picture a future where the staff structure has the right mix of social workers and medically/behaviorally trained staff to support the daily care and HAH also provides the ongoing/extensive care
  • The facilities would have the design and amenities to meet the needs in a flexible method.
    • Whether it is a design like an Assisted Living Facility, or semi-private rooms, or cohort-model dorm rooms, that will take some discussion.
    • If it’s an individual or family with medical issue or need respite care, the space is suited for that, and if they don’t have needs, then it can be used for general shelter too.

● What would it take:

  • Funding for a FQHC to do the work in the shelter. The staff of the shelter and the medical provider would be integrating services for the resident from intake to successfully housed, and hopefully beyond if needed.
  • Funding for build out and equipping of the facilities. There are a spectrum of ideas for buildout, depending on what needs to address and how much funding is available, and there are escalating costs per idea
    • Option 1. If trying to provide more locations for congregate shelter.
      • Buildout of large dorm room cohort design congregate shelter, shared bathrooms, and new HVAC installation
      •  Approximate cost per floor $650,000, and we’d convert our 5th floor from storage to provide congregate shelter for approximately 50 to 65 people
    • Option 2. To segment existing congregate shelters into cohort size/families, semi-private or private rooms
      • Build out of approximately 20 dorm rooms per floor, with either shared bathrooms or multiple “full-baths”, new HVAC installation
      • Approximate cost per floor $925,000, we’d convert our 4th and 5th floors, which would provide shelter for 120 to 160 total people depending on if they are single or families.
    • Option 3. Convert all space into assisted-living style facility models.
      • This is them most expensive version, but also provides the most separation between people, so the least risk of viral/disease spread
      • There could be onsite isolation
      • Build out of 16 to 18 fully independent rooms per floor, each room includes private bath.
      • The cost is so high due to the building wide plumbing, electrical and HVAC to meet the current CIty building codes for this design.
      •  Approximate cost per floor is $1,800,000
    • Attached are floor plans drafts of the three models A caveat to this is that though it would be amazing to convert Cornerstone’s shelter into being able to provide the highest level of care and support, really this is a model for the whole city. And if it is more equitable to fund for this conversion at other shelters elsewhere in the city, or create new shelters where the need is, that is okay. Our hope is that however we meet the needs, that we can do the best for the people of Chicago we all serve.

PDF including floor plans.