SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS — Homeless outreach organizations across Illinois are asking Governor JB Pritzker to put $100 million towards their causes in the next state budget.

Housing Action Illinois Policy Director, Bob Palmer, said this budget increase will give homeless individuals the resources needed to thrive.

“We’re coming from the perspective that housing is a basic human need, and really foundational to being successful in all these other parts of life,” Palmer said.

234 homeless outreach organizations across the state of Illinois sent in a joint request to Pritzker, to provide new funding with the goal of reaching zero functioning homelessness.

Palmer said he acknowledges Pritzker’s previous call to action, but more work needs to be done.

“We really want to end homelessness in Illinois,” Palmer said. “We need to have those really significant investments every single year for multiple years for the foreseeable future.”

Of the $100 million request, Palmer said $40 million will focus on providing emergency and transitional housing.

“We know the state of Illinois has told us there’s a deficit of more than 4,000 emergency shelter beds statewide,” Palmer said. “So, this is just part of the investment to get us to the place where we eliminate that deficit."

In Sangamon County, over 340 households are experiencing homelessness. Annually, it costs $5 million to provide housing for those families, but the community is only receiving $1.5 million.

Heartland Housed Executive Director, Josh Sabo, said Sangamon County is in need of funding for street outreach teams and case managers, to help the unhoused community.

“A key need is in housing opportunities at the end of the day,” Sabo said. “Housing is what ends homelessness. So, what we need are more supportive housing opportunities.”

Sabo said Sangamon County is projected to see 155 new homeless people based on historic trends. He added the organization is working to create a “by names” list of all people experiencing homelessness that gets updated on a regular basis.

Palmer added more than one 1.4 million people experiencing homelessness in the state of Illinois had emergency room visits for injuries, or mental health issues. Over the past five years, this totals to over $16 billion spent. Palmer said this new budget proposal will help to decrease that number.

“It would really be more cost effective if we just made sure, in our society, that everyone had a place to live,” Palmer said.

Pritzker said whether or not these organizations will receive the requested increase depends on the state’s financial needs.

“I feel strongly and confidently that we’re going to balance the budget,” Pritzker said. “But in the context of a more challenging budget, it’s always difficult to meet everybody’s demands.”

Pritzker said his office will partner with the General Assembly to make prioritizations for the new state budget. He also added he has increased funding for the Home Illinois Initiative and believes addressing homelessness in Illinois is very important.