Housing First Chicago moves people experiencing homelessness into a stable home first, then builds treatment and support around them, with every provider working from one shared list. It costs about $50 million a year, paid from the Chicago Remodel Fund, the voter-approved neighborhood line on the property tax.
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PART OF THE NEW BURNHAM PLAN
CONSTRUCT · FOUNDATION
Housing First Chicago
Fewer people should be sleeping outside. We give people a stable home first, then the help to keep it.
Treatment and support are built around the person's new home, and every provider works from one shared list of people who need a home. Houston took this approach and cut homelessness by 64% from 2011 to 2023.
It's close to impossible to get well, hold a job or stay in treatment while sleeping outside. Housing First puts the home first and builds treatment and support around the person there. For some people that means short-term help with rent and moving in. For people with long-term needs, it's a permanent home with services on site.
About 90% of the people Houston housed were still housed a year later.
We'll do the same in Chicago, with about $50 million a year from the Chicago Remodel Fund, the voter-approved neighborhood fund on the property tax. That's enough for a home for every person found sleeping outside in Chicago's January 2026 count. It works hand in hand with the mental health system and with the Housing Stability Initiative, which gets a lawyer for low-income tenants and seniors facing eviction and gets small landlords rental help quickly, so fewer people lose their homes in the first place. It's the decent answer, and it gets results people can see on their own block.
WHAT IT WON'T DO
It doesn't hand someone keys and walk away. Treatment and support are built around each person in their new home.
It isn't another disconnected program. Every provider uses one system for taking people in and one shared list, the approach that worked in Houston.
It doesn't wait for people to hit bottom. It works with the Housing Stability Initiative to keep people in the homes they already have.
How it connects
Nothing in this plan works alone. These are the questions people ask next, and the policies that answer them.
How do we keep people from losing their homes in the first place? The Housing Stability Initiative gets a lawyer for low-income tenants and every senior facing eviction, offers mediation before a case is filed and gets small landlords rental help within 30 days.
Housing Stability Initiative →
What about treatment? Mental Health & Addiction Recovery reopens mental health clinics on the South and West sides and keeps crisis care open around the clock.
Mental Health & Addiction Recovery →
Where does the housing come from? Housing Abundance lets more homes get built again, in the two-flats, three-flats and coach houses Chicago was built on.
Housing Abundance →
FISCAL IMPACT
Investment Cost
RENOVATION STEP
Construct · Foundation
SHOW THE FULL POLICY DETAILS
01
Where it ranks
OUR PRIORITIES
#19 of 33
MEDIUM
50 / 100
Daily life
Long-term future
Reach
Unlocks
PROVEN It moves people experiencing homelessness into a stable home first, then builds treatment and support around them. That approach helped Houston cut homelessness by 64%.
When you'd feel it: Year 2.
See all the priorities
How I set them
02
How it works
Housing first
People experiencing homelessness are moved into a stable home first, and treatment and support are built around them there. A home isn't a reward for finishing treatment.
Two kinds of housing
Rapid rehousing is short-term help with rent and moving in, as a bridge back to stable housing. Permanent supportive housing is a permanent home with services on site, for people with long-term needs.
One system, one list
The system is modeled on Houston, where every provider works from one entry system and one shared list of people who need housing.
Connected to prevention and treatment
The program works with Mental Health & Addiction Recovery, the plan's mental health and addiction treatment program, and with the Housing Stability Initiative, which helps tenants facing eviction keep their homes.
Paid for by
The money is a $50 million a year program line in the Chicago Remodel Fund, the voter-approved property tax line that pays for neighborhood programs. It's sized to put a home under every person counted sleeping outside in Chicago's January 22, 2026 count: 1,641 people, about 1,650 households at $30,000 a household a year.
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What it costs
Annual budget (Chicago Remodel Fund)
$50M a year
Who it's sized for
1,641 people counted sleeping outside (January 22, 2026), about 1,650 households
Cost per household
~$30,000 a year
Rent (HUD FY2025 fair market rent, Chicago-metro one-bedroom)
$1,560 a month ($18,720 a year)
Services and administration (campaign assumption)
~$11,000 a year
Annual budget
$50M
This is a campaign estimate: 1,650 households x $30,000 = $49.5 million, rounded to $50 million. The program is in the budget because it works, even though its savings don't cover its full cost. Chicago and Cook County's Flexible Housing Pool report (August 7, 2026) found about $14,492 a year per household in reduced crisis-system costs and said measurable savings don't fully offset the cost.
04
What it takes to make it happen
CITY COUNCIL
Approve the $50 million line through the Chicago Remodel Fund.
MAYOR AND DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND SUPPORT SERVICES
Coordinate providers around one entry system and one shared list.
SPRINGFIELD
No state action has been identified for this policy itself.
VOTERS
No referendum for this policy itself. Its money comes through the Chicago Remodel Fund, whose property tax line goes to voters on the March 21, 2028 primary ballot.
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Timeline
NEXT
Publish the full policy document with its scope, housing targets and who runs it.
ONCE THE REMODEL FUND PROPERTY TAX IS COLLECTED
It runs as a $50 million-a-year Remodel Fund program alongside Housing Stability and Mental Health & Addiction Recovery.
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Where it's worked
Houston
More than 100 nonprofits and city and county agencies work through one coordinated system, The Way Home. Homelessness fell 64% over 12 years to 2023, and about 90% of people housed were still housed a year later.
SOURCE: GOVERNING, AUGUST 30, 2023 ↗
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Chicago today
Chicago's January 22, 2026 count found 6,527 people without permanent housing, including about 1,641 living completely unsheltered, up nearly 25% from 2025. The total fell 12% from January 2025. About a third of Chicago's unhoused population are children.
SOURCE: WTTW, SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 ↗
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Chicago today
A broader count that includes people doubled up with friends or family estimated 58,625 Chicagoans experienced homelessness in 2024. The city's official count, which covers only shelters and the street, was 18,836 that year.
SOURCE: WBEZ, JANUARY 21, 2026, ON THE CHICAGO COALITION TO END HOMELESSNESS REPORT ↗
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Sources
Governing, August 30, 2023
WTTW, September 9, 2026
WBEZ, January 21, 2026, on the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness report
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