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Sarah's Circle Builds Out Campus With New Building In Uptown
Sarah's Circle Builds Out Campus With New Building In Uptown
by Kyra Walker & Suzanne Hanney
Sarah’s Circle, a 44-year-old nonprofit dedicated to women who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, broke ground June 27 for Sarah’s on Lakeside – 28 furnished studio apartments at 4737 N. Sheridan Road, its third building in Uptown. The $17.5 million structure is scheduled to be completed in fall 2024.
“Today we’re doing more than just building housing - we’re breaking ground on permanent solutions for homelessness,” Sarah’s Circle Executive Director Kathy Ragnar said.
“To have my own place where I can cook, bathe, and wash my clothes is so important,” said Sarah’s Circle Board Member June Merritt. “With what I’ve been through, I take nothing for granted.”
Joining Ragnar and Merritt at the groundbreaking were U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Chicago), Chicago Commissioner of Housing Marisa Novara and Ald. Angela Clay (46th ward).
Roughly 30 percent of people who are homeless are women, Schakowsky said. “The fact that we in this country tolerate homelessness at all as well as hunger, it’s intolerable. Part of our fight is to not only support Sarah’s Circle, but that we continue to fight for equity in this country.”
According to Commissioner Novara, “Homelessness can mean that you’re literally sleeping on the streets; sometimes it can mean that you’re sleeping on a friend’s couch. No version is ideal for trying to be your fullest and healthiest version of yourself.”
On any given night in Chicago, 2,000 women are homeless, according to the Sarah’s Circle website.
"We know that homelessness is on the rise in this country," Novara added, and commended Sarah's Circle for creating permanent solutions for women, transgender women included. Besides the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) and the Chicago Housing Authority, she said the City contributed $8 million in various grant funds and $1.5 million in donations tax credits: a 50-cent state income tax credit for each $1 of a minimum $10,000 donated to an affordable housing project.
In addition to $9.5 million from the City of Chicago and $6 million from IHDA, Sarah’s Circle contributed $2 million of its own toward the $17.5 million construction cost. Tenants pay 30 percent of whatever income they have in rent.
Clay grew up in affordable housing in Uptown for 27 years. She’s serving her first term on the Chicago City Council after winning the election in April. “In the 46th ward we are a pillar of affordability in the city of Chicago,” Clay said. “I wanna make sure that we continue that message while we are in offices, outside of offices, while we are making friends all around this city. I know how privileged we are as a ward to have Sarah’s Circle. I know how privileged we are to have an abundance of affordable housing for our neighborhoods. All of our neighbors in this city truly deserve affordability, no matter where they live.”
Sarah’s Circle client Brooklyn Silas performed a spoken word piece comparing her experience moving between foster homes until age 9 to the stability she has found at Sarah’s Circle. “A studio that God has provided for me through Sarah’s Circle. He made a way. There’s so much more than I can say in the peace of having a home: a place where I have significantly grown. I have a community here. I’m not alone.”
Silas recently earned her high school diploma and has been accepted into several programs to pursue her bachelor’s degree.
Sarah’s Circle opened its first drop-in center in an Uptown apartment in 1979. Its full continuum of services provide 600 women a year daytime support, life necessities, supportive services, interim housing, rapid re-housing and permanent supportive housing (PSH). It operates 10 units of PSH and daytime support at its Judy Krueger Apartments, 4838 N. Sheridan Road; 38 units of PSH and a 50-bed interim housing shelter at Sarah’s on Sheridan, 1005 W. Leland Ave.; and 25 more PSH apartments across the city.
Mayor Johnson's Transition Report
Mayor Brandon Johnson heard testimony concerning the most pressing issues facing Chicago July 6 and received the 200-plus page report offered as a guide to his administration for building a better, stronger and safer Chicago.
Representatives from 11 subcommittees spoke on behalf of nearly 400 members who made recommendations on challenges ranging from education to housing, to public safety, and more.
Recurring themes reflect complex and layered issues that confront Chicago, such as:
• community abandonment co-existing with inspiring narratives of community resilience;
• the need for greater transparency and accountability in government;
• unequal access to power and decision making across race, class, age, and ZIP code simultaneous with a new commitment to inclusive co-governance;
• the crucial need to address race and economic disparity with an understanding of Chicago’s history and how this disparity impacts our communities differently and unevenly.
U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Chicago) kicked off the event in Spanish and English. “I want to extend my deepest gratitude to you, Mayor Johnson, for bringing together a truly diverse and deeply committed set of stakeholders. Together we have developed a historic blueprint for building a better, safer, and stronger Chicago for everyone,” she said.
Dr. Barbara Ransby emphasized the collaborative nature of the committtee’s work. “It was intense, it was short, it was imperfect, but it was extremely important work. It was an exercise in democratic practice, truth telling and consensus building,” she said.
Business leader Charles Smith said he was privileged to deliver the report to the mayor, “a blueprint that captures the views, hopes, experiences and best thinking of all of us here today, and of many others with whom we consulted and encountered in this journey. May it help us work together as a city to grow the Soul of Chicago.”
The final report is designed to serve as a blueprint, for building bridges between the city’s diverse communities and voices and between vision and action, so that every child, every family, and every neighborhood can experience the fully embodied Soul of Chicago that the Mayor invoked in his inauguration speech—so that all of our neighborhoods are safe, equitable and truly thriving.
It can be downloaded at https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/supp_info/transition-report.html and will be available in Spanish.
Report On Salary Needs For Housing
Full-time workers in Illinois must earn $24.59 per hour to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent. This is Illinois’ 2023 Housing Wage, according to the recent “Out of Reach” report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and Housing Action Illinois (HAI), a 35-year-old, statewide coalition of 160+ members that includes counseling agencies and providers of affordable housing and homeless services. Released annually, the report highlights the gulf between wages and what people must earn to afford rent at no more than 30 percent of their income.
Other key findings from the report include:
• A person earning the state minimum wage of $13 per hour must have 1.6 full-time job(s) or work 65 hours per week to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment.
• A person earning the state minimum wage must have 1.9 fulltime job(s) or work 76 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom apartment.
• Minimum wage in the Chicago area is higher, and so is the Housing Wage: $27.69.
• The lowest Housing Wage, in more affordable counties, is $14.88.
• In Illinois, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,091. A person receiving the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit of $913 per month can afford no more than $274 monthly.
The recent debt ceiling deal will lead to harmful cuts in programs such as Housing Choice Vouchers, public housing and homeless assistance grants. Said HAI Policy Director Bob Palmer, “Because the cost of providing housing in the private market has continued to go up, the spending caps that were part of the agreement to suspend the debt ceiling have the impact of a budget cut, reducing the number of people receiving assistance to help pay for a home.”
During Fiscal Year 2024, HUD will need at least $13 billion more to maintain current levels of service due to inflation, higher rents, and interest rate hikes. It will be challenging for Congress to keep housing and homelessness programs whole.
“I’m hoping everyone will support HUD budget increases for housing, because everyone needs a home,” said Hugh Brady, a board member for the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Illinois (NAMI Illinois), NAMI’s Barrington Area chapter, the Housing Task Force and the Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County. “In the communities I know best, the northwest suburbs of Chicago, I have seen firsthand how community-based non-profit organizations use HUD funding to create affordable housing for people who have been chronically homeless, often struggling with severe mental illnesses and other disabilities. To end homelessness, we need to significantly increase HUD funding, not reduce the number of people served.”
For additional information, and to download the report, visit: http://www.nlihc.org/oor
