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Five Year Supportive Housing Plan for Chronically Homeless Persons <br /> Decatur, Ilfinois <br /> Final Report <br /> Executive Summarv <br /> In�roducfiior� <br /> The public's pereeption of homelessness is largely shaped by a group of homeless <br /> peopie called the "chronically homeless." Aithough they make up only 10-15°� of all <br /> homeless people, the chronically homeiess fit the popular stereotype of homelessness. <br /> They are the men and women living on the streets and sleeping in alleys or publie <br /> buildings. They are affeeted by substanee abuse and often by mental illnesses. <br /> The Deeatur eommunity includes a sizable number of ehronieatly homeless people. <br /> Their ir�pact is felt far beyond their numbers. Their mere presenee eauses some <br /> eitizens diseomfort. A number of the chronically homeless regularly panhandle for <br /> money on the streets of the eity, espeeially in the downtown area and around churehes. <br /> Having no living quarters, they sleep in places not intended for habitation — under <br /> viaducts, in all-night businesses and, until reeently, in the downtown Rost Offiee. With <br /> their nomadie lifestyles and severe health issues, they absorb an inordinate amount of <br /> publicly funded senrice� — law eflforeernent, emergency �enfiees, MealtM eare, <br /> incarceration, and more.' Four weH-intended public poliey initiatives —the de- <br /> institutionalization of inental health center residents, mandatory sentencing of drug <br /> offenders, welfare reform, and the zero-tolerance movement restricting housing and <br /> jobs for people with criminal records — have combined to increase the number of <br /> chronically homeless people. <br /> ' The landmark"New York/New York Study"found that the average mentally ill homeless person in New <br /> York City uses$40,449 per year of publicly funded services, in 1999 dollars.While the cost in Decatur is <br /> no doubt lower, it is still substantial. Reference: The/mpact of Supporfive Housing for Homeless Persons <br />� with Severe Mental Illness on the Utilization of the Public Health, Corrections and Emergency She/ter <br /> Systems: The New YorkAVew York Initiative Conducted by Dennis P. Culhane, Stephen Metraux and <br /> Trevor Hadley Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research, University of Pennsylvania. <br /> PAGEI <br />