Overseeing Chicago’s 10-Yr Plan to End Homelessness

Betsy BenitoChicago Department of Housing

NAEH Conference 2007

Taking on Systems Change: Mayor Daley’s Trend

• Chicago Public Schools (1995)• Chicago Housing Authority – Plan for

Transformation (1999)• Plan to End Homelessness (2003)

Making a Commitment: Staff and Financial

Resources• Plan to End Homelessness – Five staff dedicated to

the Plan’s implementation, led by Mayor’s Liaison on Homelessness and Supportive Housing

• $10 million through the sale of the Skyway Tollway• Approximately $4 million annually through the

Statewide Rental Housing Support Program

Chicago’s Oversight of the Plan: The City’s Approach

• Team (5 dedicated positions) to focus solely on the Plan’s Implementation

• Work collaboratively with senior staff of Department of Human Services

• Develop partnerships with other relevant departments who encounter the homeless

• Collaboration with external partners that have responsibility for implementation

Setting the Course, Taking Responsibility

• Example: Chicago’s Implementation Schedule• Consensus across stakeholders on the goals• Relevant stakeholders take ownership of the goals or

desired end product• Stakeholders can disagree or question another’s

“means to the end”, but should not be the focus of oversight

• As implementation occurs, accountability is to the public, funders, or other entity with leverage or authority

Guiding Documents for Implementation

• “Getting Housed, Staying Housed” (2002)• Program Models Chart (2003)• System Assumptions and Conversion

Methodology (2004)• Implementation Schedule (2005)• These documents are key as reference and

can be used to keep various stakeholders focused on the common goals

How Funding can Drive Implementation

• Public sector controls its own funds• Private foundations can coordinate with

public funding• Continuum of care funding is both public

and private and can be used to leverage change for plans to end homelessness

Staffing to End Homelessness: Who and How Many?

• Public sector– System thinkers but with patience for minutia– Problem-solving, boundary spanners– Track, coordinate, and integrate efforts of various projects

• Private sector– Translation of policy into application and vice versa– Carryout projects that support goals of the Plan– Track, coordinate, and integrate efforts of various projects