Homelessness is an increasingly reality for a significant number of residents in DuPage County.

A One Night survey conducted on January 22, 2009 indicated that 695 persons in DuPage County were homeless on that night. This is a reduction from 766 in 2007

• 184 persons in emergency shelter including 13 family units.
• 403 persons in transitional housing including 105 family units.
• 108 unsheltered persons on the street including 3 unsheltered family units.

182 of these persons were chronically homeless. – 83 in shelters and 99 on the streets.

There were 26 youth between the ages of 18-21 in shelter or transitional housing on that night and 145 for the entire year.

For more complete information please see the 2009 Homeless Populations Chart under Homeless Demographics. The next Homeless Count is scheduled for January 2011.

Poverty is steadily growing in DuPage County. The poverty rate change in DuPage County is statistically significant from 4.5% in 2007 to 5.7% in 2008.

· There are approximately 52,000 DuPage residents living in poverty. This represents 5.7percent.
· The child poverty rate is 7.3% or 16,667 children live below the poverty line.
· Extreme poverty, living below $10,600 for a family of four, is experienced by 22,184 DuPage County residents. This rate of 2.4% has risen from 1.8% in 2000.
· In addition, 103,056 DuPage residents are considered low income (200% of Federal Poverty Level).

http://www.heartlandalliance.org
/research/data/dupagecounty07.pdf
(link)

August 2008 Income and Poverty Data - POVERTY TRENDS IN DUPAGE COUNTY, ILLINOIS
Social IMPACT Research Center of Heartland Alliance.

http://www.heartlandalliance.org/povertyreport/latest-poverty-data/dupage-county-pov-08.pdf
(link)

http://www.heartlandalliance.org/research
(link)

contact them at research@heartlandalliance.org

Although DuPage County has the second highest median income in the Chicago area, it has more low income persons than the total population of 87 counties in Illinois (Important Facts about Poverty in DuPage 2006 update).

Rent or Utility Assistance – In fiscal year 2008, 17,181 persons in 5,928 households also received rent or utility financial assistance in order to prevent them from becoming homelessness. This was over a 200% increase from the previous year. In FY 2007, the DuPage Continuum assisted 8,671 persons in 2,886 households (2009 DuPage Continuum Prevention Providers Survey)

Click on the Homeless Prevention Tab to see Geographic Locations for Services or Call 630-407-6500 and After 4:30 p.m. call 800-941-8681

• a well-coordinated, seamless continuum of emergency and long-term housing and support services to people who are homeless;
• an effective countywide emergency relief system to help people stay in their housing;
• the Housing First approach- getting persons in housing as soon as possible and following later with their service needs.
• developing an adequate supply of housing to end homelessness by 2010.