New agreement with the Chicago Department of Family & Support Services will continue expanded outreach program providing assistance to those on the transit system who are unhoused, suffering mental health and/or substance abuse issues
Following a successful pilot, a new two-year agreement was approved today between the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and the City of Chicago's Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS), which manages the city's overall homelessness outreach, to continue providing expanded outreach and support for riders who are unsheltered, as well as those grappling with mental health and substance abuse.
“This program has quickly proven to be invaluable to not only those receiving the outreach services and care provided, but also for our riders – as it has always been our goal to provide everyone with a safe and comfortable transit riding experience,” said CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. “We recognize the impact this investment is making on hundreds of people’s lives, and we are pleased to be able to continue this agreement with DFSS and help address this larger, societal issue.”
The Chicago Transit Board unanimously approved the measure during its monthly meeting after seeing the continued positive impact the investment has been making since the pilot began in January 2023, which includes:
- More than 17,580 interactions by outreach engagement teams across the Blue and Red Lines and stations with unhoused riders since the start of the contract through September 2024.
- Connected 104 people to housing and successfully facilitated 240 shelter placements from the CTA Red and Blue Line trains between January 2023 through September 2024.
- 20 clients were housed via an Accelerated Moving Event (AME)* on CTA in April 2024, while another,
- 19 clients were housed through a CTA specific AME in July 2023.
- An additional 64 people who were supported by the CTA outreach teams have exited from homelessness to other stable or permanent housing destinations outside of the AME process.
Per the terms of the agreement, CTA will allocate up to $2 million annually for outreach teams to continue their daily deployments on the rail system, largely targeting the Red and Blue lines, which are 24/7. The outreach teams offer connections to support services, healthcare, and housing resources (when available), as well as harm reduction personal care materials, and sustenance.
Each year, the City of Chicago conducts the Point in Time Count to estimate the number of people experiencing homelessness throughout the city on a given night each January. In 2024, there were nearly 19,000 individuals counted. Among this group, more than 1,600 individuals were experiencing unsheltered homelessness – 46% of which (or ~751 individuals) were counted on CTA.
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*AMEs are events where clients are able to complete several steps of the housing process at once, including looking at available units and filling out applications.