REVIVE CENTER FOR HOUSING AND HEALING

OVERVIEW
For more than 100 years, ReVive Center for Housing and Healing, formerly known as Cathedral Shelter of Chicago, has provided food, clothing, shelter, employment opportunities, health care, substance use treatment, supportive housing and community outreach to people experiencing homelessness and poverty in Chicago. ReVive continues this rich tradition today as a caring and compassionate community-based human services provider that offers housing and person-centered, low-barrier services to people experiencing homelessness that meet them "where they are," recognizes their strengths and addresses their needs, and through engagement, relationship and trust, promotes recovery, achievement of individual housing, health and economic goals, and ultimately a return to self-sufficiency.

ReVive’s mission is to seek an end to homelessness and restore hope, that all might flourish. To flourish, basic needs must be met, daily activities must promote purpose and meaning and engagement in community should fortify hope for a better life. This mission is actualized by providing supportive housing, rental assistance and services to support our community members on their journey from homelessness to stably housed. Through engagement, relationship and trust, ReVive community members overcome traumas, combat stigma associated with homelessness, mental illness and addiction, and address individual barriers to stable housing, better physical and mental health and employment or income stability.

THE NEED
The number of homeless individuals living in Chicago is unacceptable. The City of Chicago Homeless Point-in-Time Count estimated a total of 4,447 people experiencing homelessness in 2021; 3,023 individuals residing in shelters and an estimated 702 to 1,454 people experiencing homelessness on the street. The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless estimated that 65,611 people experienced homelessness in Chicago in 2020 when sheltered, unsheltered, and people temporarily staying with others are considered.
ReVive is located in the Illinois 7th Congressional District, where more than 34% of households renting apartments have income at or below 30% of AMI, with 70% of those households considered severely burdened, spending more than 50% of their income on housing and utilities. ReVive is also located in a Disproportionately Impacted Area by the COVID pandemic and a Qualified Census Tract, as defined by the US Census Bureau, and provides services to community members who reside therein.

COMMUNITY MEMBERS SERVED
Revive offers its housing, rental assistance and supportive services to chronically homeless single women and single men who have disabilities and their minor children residing in Cressey House, ReVive’s permanent supportive housing site, located at 1668 West Ogden Avenue in Chicago’s Near West Side. ReVive also provides supportive services to low income individuals living in scattered site housing who are at risk of homelessness and to people experiencing homelessness who are living on the streets, in shelters, or staying with others.

ReVive serves approximately 440 individuals each year from all over the City of Chicago and greater Cook County, Illinois. During 2022, ReVive housed and/or provided supportive housing services to 118 individuals, including 102 adults and 16 children. Ages of participants ranged from 5 to 62+ years of age: 14% were youth and 22% were seniors. Sixty percent were male, 39% were female and 1% were transgender. Four percent of the individuals served were veterans and 12% had a history of domestic violence. Eighty-nine percent of participants were Black, 8% were White and 3% were multiracial. ReVive also provided resources, engagement and services to an average of 27 unduplicated individuals experiencing homelessness each month in its Engagement Center.
ReVive community members battle significant traumas, both during and prior to homelessness; brain injuries; substance use; mental illness; physical disabilities, developmental disabilities and/or motor, cognitive, and sensory impairments that impact daily functioning, relationships, health, and quality of life. Most ReVive community members have multiple complex needs. ReVive community members are also among the City of Chicago's most economically vulnerable: 65% of supportive housing households have annual incomes of $12,000 or less, and all households have incomes at or below 50% of area median income. Upon arrival, most supportive housing community members are unemployed and food insecure.

REVIVE PROGRAMS
ReVive is a member of the Chicago Continuum of Care and follows the Housing First approach to prioritize housing without conditions for the most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness. ReVive employs evidence-based best practices in its service provision including: motivational interviewing, harm reduction, trauma-informed care, strengths based practice and the SOAR method for acquiring social security benefits.

HOUSING
ReVive's Cressey House offers 28 units of permanent supportive housing made up of 18 studios, 8 one-bedroom and 2 two-bedroom apartments. Currently, 39 chronically homeless single women and single men with disabilities and their minor children live in Cressey House.

NEW SUPPORTIVE HOUSING PROGRAM
Through a new 3-year, $886,208 grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), ReVive will add 20 new units of supportive housing to Chicago's permanent supportive housing stock. ReVive will provide housing, rental assistance and employ its extensive experience successfully serving chronically homeless individuals with disabilities to provide the necessary supportive services.

SUPPORTIVE SERVICES
ReVive provides supportive services to residents of Cressey House, and approximately 66 additional low-income individuals who are at risk of homelessness. The goal of these flexible and person-centered services is to help our community members address their individual barriers to stable housing, better health, and employment or income stability. Supportive services include: an intake assessment; goal setting; individual service plan; case management; occupational therapy; navigating and applying for public benefits; systems advocacy, housing assistance, legal assistance referral; on-site physical and mental health care and clinics; substance-use treatment referrals and support groups; financial assistance for employment training and transit cards; employment readiness; life skills workshops; and computer use/internet training. Supportive services are encouraged, but are not required to maintain housing.

ENGAGEMENT CENTER
Engagement, relationship, and trust are crucial to the successful journey of a homeless person to stable housing, better health, economic stability and ultimately self-sufficiency. ReVive’s Engagement Center (Center) was designed for this very purpose. The Center offers a welcoming space where people living on the streets can grab a cup of coffee, find a safe place to rest, access food and other basic necessities and experience the warmth and acceptance of a community that will treat them with respect and dignity. The Center also welcomes those further along on their journey (those living in Cressey House, scattered site housing and emergency or transitional housing) and offers them the opportunity to access supportive services, build social networks, engage in Center social activities, share their lived experience of homelessness and further their own personal recovery.

A distinguishing feature of the Engagement Center is its extraordinary focus on welcoming all individuals who walk through our doors, recognizing their human dignity, validating their incomparable worth, treating them with respect and minimizing the barriers to accessing needed resources, programs and services. When a new homeless person enters the Engagement Center, the conversation doesn’t focus on proving identity, demographic information or determining whether they qualify for services under a specific funding stream, rather the focus is on welcoming the new community member, giving them space to develop their own personal sense of comfort and safety, and giving them time to develop relationships with staff and other community members at their own pace. To help build relationship, the Center offers coffee, food, clothing, leisure activities like billiards, movies, video games, arts and crafts, and designated spaces for reading, resting, exercise, meal preparation, laundry, showers and community gatherings. As relationship and trust build, ReVive clinical staff proceed to provide the necessary housing and supportive services.

Center services for the unsheltered homeless encourage movement to more stable housing such as a shelter or staying with family or friends. These services focus on providing basic resources like food, clothing, transportation, hygiene kits, showers, assistance navigating complex systems that create barriers to housing, addressing physical and mental healthcare needs and applying for public benefits.

NEW STREET OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM
Through a new 3-year, $620,717 grant from HUD, ReVive will provide street outreach and engagement services to Chicago’s unsheltered homeless by deploying multidisciplinary teams 1 to 3 times weekly that will include one or more doctors, nurses, clinical case managers, occupational therapists and peer navigators with lived experience of homelessness to conduct “Street Runs” to the unsheltered “on their terms, and on their turf.” In partnership with Chicago Street Medicine, ReVive will provide physical health care, medications, clinical case management, occupational therapy, harm reduction, and resources including food, water, hygiene kits, clothing, sleeping bags, etc., to meet the needs of this vulnerable population. Repeat Street Runs to the same locations will address ongoing needs and build trust. Low-barrier follow-on services will be provided by ReVive at its Engagement Center and/or in triage housing or shelters.