Thanks to funding from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Housing Action Illinois subgranted $10,000 to BEDS Plus Care. These funds supported the agency’s work providing interim housing and emergency shelter, short-term rental and mortgage assistance, and emergency food and supplies.
On March 16, BEDS Plus Care launched its COVID-19 Response Plan, which aims to protect its clients during the pandemic.
Since then, BEDS has placed 75 vulnerable individuals in area motels, including people over age 60, those with health conditions, and families. It asked its hundreds of shelter volunteers to remain at home, mustering staff to take over their work. BEDS’ two Daytime Support Centers have closed during the pandemic. Meanwhile, BEDS continued operating its consolidated homeless shelter—one of only two such facilities currently operating in Suburban Cook County. It also expanded operations around the clock.
As the pandemic continued, BEDS worked with Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn to open a second consolidated shelter site in July, specifically for people who don’t have housing after being released from the medical center’s care. Fifteen people are currently staying there. It is also partnering with Cook County to establish a South Suburban Respite and Service Center.
BEDS Plus Care’s case managers are meeting with clients to share information about the coronavirus and ensure they have essential supplies, including medications.
When new clients arrive to BEDS’ consolidated shelters, staff screen them for COVID-19 symptoms. Those who test positive are quarantined in temporary housing. Screening appears to be working—as of September 2020, none of BEDS’ staff or clients had contracted the virus.
Meanwhile, supportive housing residents are sheltering in place, and BEDS is delivering more than 4,000 meals each day, along with prescription medication and other supplies.
The people BEDS serves are more likely to contract infectious diseases, live with chronic illnesses, and have higher mortality rates than others, even when COVID-19 is not a factor. Because many shelter programs in Cook County have had to shut down during the pandemic, those experiencing homelessness often end up in area hospitals—an expensive alternative.
But housing clients in hotels is also pricey. Through the end of May, BEDS’ COVID-19-related costs exceeded $300,000.
Housing Action Illinois subgranted $10,000 to BEDS Plus—thanks to the National Low Income Housing Coalition—to support its work providing interim housing and emergency shelter, short-term rental and mortgage assistance, and emergency food and supplies during the pandemic. The funding helped BEDS provide emergency housing to 138 households, short-term rental and mortgage assistance to 30 households, and a total of 19,899 meals.
Changes made in response to the pandemic may change how BEDS operates long term. Director of Advancement Julie Daraska says operating the consolidated shelter twenty-four hours a day allowed for close, uninterrupted relationships between case managers and their clients. Case managers could build trust more quickly and help clients gather their documents more consistently than they could during office appointments. “The success of 24-hour shelter is something we plan to build into future shelter operations, in some capacity,” Daraska said. “It is good for clients.”
BEDS Plus began as an overnight homeless shelter program that rotated among churches in the La Grange area. In 2013, the organization adopted the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Housing First approach, leading to its work in Homelessness Prevention, Rapid Rehousing, and Permanent Supportive Housing. In recent years, BEDS assumed management of a shelter network in near-South Suburban Cook County. It also opened its flagship Permanent Supportive Housing facility, acquired a second building and secured dozens of PSH units. As of the 2019 fiscal year, it has 1,192 clients—ten times the number it had before it adopted a Housing First approach.
BEDS Plus began as an overnight homeless shelter program that rotated among churches in the La Grange area. In 2013, the organization adopted the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Housing First approach, leading to its work in Homelessness Prevention, Rapid Rehousing, and Permanent Supportive Housing. In recent years, BEDS assumed management of a shelter network in near-South Suburban Cook County. It also opened its flagship Permanent Supportive Housing facility, acquired a second building and secured dozens of PSH units. As of the 2019 fiscal year, it has 1,192 clients—ten times the number it had before it adopted a Housing First approach.