Dear BEDS Friend:
Effective today, BEDS shelter operations are consolidated in one location, at an existing shelter site.
Capacity is restricted to no more than 50 guests. To put this in perspective, we provide 75 shelter beds nightly at West and South locations.
Likewise, our two Day Support Centers in La Grange and Worth, which each see an average of 100 clients daily, are closed
.
This means our Housing and Prevention clients do not have ready access to case managers, our Food Rescue program, and our onsite health clinic, run by Amita Health and Pillars Community Health. At this point, both providers are concerned about spreading the infection. Clients who need medical care are being referred to, and in many instances transported to, health care facilities. Case managers are delivering medical and other supplies and food to our housed clients to make sure they, like the rest of us, can self-quarantine with all they need.
Temporary housing, primarily in the form of motel vouchers for one month, is being provided to clients most at risk, including the elderly and those who are immunocompromised. BEDS is subsidizing motel stays for employed shelter users because they need to travel to and from work, and the consolidated site will be on lockdown for the protection of guests. Only medically necessary travel to and from shelter will be permitted. BEDS is following the guidance of the
Centers for Disease Control
,
Illinois Department of Public Health
,
and
Housing and Urban Development
for organizations serving the homeless.
Program staff are filling in for the loyal cadre of more than 450 shelter volunteers, whose ranks have been decimated by their vulnerability to infection.
These are challenging days, and likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
We are grateful for your past and continued support of our work to reduce and end homelessness.
We estimate that the cost of our COVID 19 response will exceed $100,000.
While Congress finalizes an emergency supplemental spending bill to aid communities as they address the impact of COVID-19,
proposed funding does not include money for homeless services.
People experiencing homelessness are more vulnerable by definition and include high-risk populations. Your state and county representatives are shaping Illinois’ response to COVID-19.
We urge you to contact them
to make sure they consider people experiencing homelessness and those who serve them.
Please consider making a donation to support our COVID-19 Response.
Your financial support lets us use your gift to meet the most pressing, immediate needs.
Your support and advocacy on our behalf are needed – perhaps like never before. We are grateful for all you have done over 30 years and will continue to do for those in our communities who are poor, disabled, displaced and ill, who have lost or are losing their homes.
