Budget matters for housing 

Bob Palmer, executive director of Housing Matters, serves also as a consultant for DuPage Housing Action Coalition (DHAC); the Wheaton Franciscans are also members of DHAC and work in cohort with the organization’s affordable housing objectives.  

WHEATON—The economic crisis on Wall Street and Main Street alike makes Illinois’ Appropriations and General Fund proposal, SB 1103, that much more poignant. The bill, which cleared both the House and Senate, was sent to Gov. Rod Blagojevich in early October. It authorizes a series of contingent expenses, including the restoration of $4 million for supportive mental illness housing, explained Bob Palmer, executive director of Housing Matters, a nonprofit affordable housing advocacy organization.

The governor has till Dec. 6 to sign the bill, which would allow for the restoration of previously cut programs and services for some of Illinois’ “most vulnerable” residents—the homeless population and those needing substance abuse treatment, as well as those individuals and families requiring mental health care. At risk are funds for social services to assist with 769 supportive housing units for 900-plus homeless men, women and children (along with those suffering mental illness or special needs), he said.

For more information, visit the Web site for Housing Matters at: http://www.housingmatters.net/.