The Road Map Initiative was featured in a page 1 story in the Chicago Tribune. See more of the story below.
The city of Chicago is leveraging lessons learned from the RMI data analyses to invest in stabilization housing for people cycling across crisis services. Special thanks to the vision and forward thinking of our partners at Chicago Department of Public Health and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. Without their leadership and support none of this good work would be possible.
Next steps: RMI is advocating with city, county, and state leaders to fully fund outreach and engagement services critical to disrupt cycling across crisis services and connect to people with complex behavioral health issues to community-level behavioral health services earlier. Connecting people to the right service and the right system ensures we’re optimizing state and federal dollars while improving quality of life and health outcomes.
The Tribune story describes efforts to convert the Diplomat Motel on North Lincoln Avenue to into “a housing pilot that would provide on-site substance abuse and mental health treatment – part of the city’s long-term efforts to combat chronic homelessness by pairing temporary shelter with intensive health care.” Here is the passage about RMI:
One effort already underway is the Road Map Initiative, which invovles nonprofit organizations such as Mercy Housing Lakefront, Heartland Alliance and Smart Policy Works.
Smart Policy Works and Heartland Alliance have worked with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office since fall 2022 to provide temporary housing for people cycling through the jail with complex behavioral health issues. They place individuals in hotels for one to two weeks before finding more permanent housing, with 27 participants in various phases of the program.
Smart Policy Works now meets with the Chicago health department regularly.
“If we were strategically aligning our housing and our health system and creating these intentional, collaborative approaches for caring for individuals, we would be seeing more success,” said Barbara Otto, president of Smart Policy Works. “I think the crisis stabilization housing at the Diplomat Motel is a gateway for that.”
Full story: Chicago aims to turn motel into ‘healthy housing’ for homeless. City to test new model to transition to permanent housing. By Alice Yin and Lizzie Kane, Chicago Tribune, Monday July 17, 2023, page 1. (https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-chicago-housing-diplomat-motel-homeless-20230717-yso6gsyqhja2xbfpy5276nc76e-story.html subscription required)