New Trier Township is embarking on a new housing initiative by teaming up with a Mount Prospect organization dedicated to people facing homelessness.
Under a pilot program, New Trier Township, which provides social services to local residents, is forging a new collaboration with Northwest Compass, Inc.’s Shelter Access for Everyone (“SAFE”) Program intended to assist the homeless.
“New Trier Township is a welcoming and generous community, but we do not have the housing resources available locally to offer emergency shelter and services to those presenting as homeless in our community,” Township Supervisor Gail Schnitzer Eisenberg said in a statement. “I am excited to partner with Northwest Compass to allow our community to provide short-term shelter opportunities, case management and other resources.”
People believed to be homeless will be offered the opportunity to stay at a Northwest Compass shelter where they offer different types of assistance and housing options by SAFE.
Eisenberg said no one would have to participate.
“We are not forcing anybody, it is an optional program,” she said.
Eisenberg added township officials authorized spending $5,000 this year for the program. Given its pilot status, she said the program would be reviewed and determined whether it should be continued next year.
Eisenberg said there are approximately 20 homeless individuals who seek social services annually with New Trier Township.
“This will be a tool in our toolbox to address housing insecurity in the township,” Eisenberg added.
SAFE already has relationships with Arlington Heights, Rolling Meadows and Elk Grove Village.
“We are the first township to partner with their SAFE program,” Eisenberg noted. “No one municipality in the township would have seen it prudent to offer the program given the levels with homelessness in each village. New Trier’s partnership is a prime example of how we can address the real, aggregated need in our community by capitalizing on economies of scale.”
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.