Last month, Haymarket Center hosted its first Accelerated Moving Event (AME) for people experiencing homelessness and seeking shelter on trains and public transit stations.
The event was held at Harold Washington Library, in partnership with the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the Chicago Department of Family and Social Services (DFSS), AllChicago, and Thresholds to connect people with housing. AMEs work by compressing many of the steps and paperwork involved in the housing process into a single day, allowing applicants in urgent need of housing to obtain it quickly. Once applicants find a home, they continue to remain in contact with case managers in order to ensure that their journey to recovery remains on track.
“We successfully enrolled 11 people from our Mobile Outreach Program in the AME, which is what we were hoping for,” explained Isabella Mancini, Manager of the Mobile Outreach Program “The next steps are to have those 11 people sign leases, move into housing within 90 days, and follow up with the Outreach team and their case managers as they progress in their recovery.”
Haymarket Center would like to thank the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and the Chicago Department of Family and Social Services (DFSS) for their support and guidance of our Center’s Outreach Program, without whom this event would not be possible.