A Place To Call Home
The seeds of change are found in everyday experience. The stories of people who live in supportive housing can shed light on important issues, such as what it is like to experience homelessness or live with mental illness or a disability. Because of this, during 2019, the Supportive Housing Providers Association (SHPA) and Housing Action Illinois partnered to bring a series of five workshops to help residents of permanent supportive housing explore telling stories to make a difference. The stories in this publication grew out of the workshops, and we are grateful to everyone whose experiences are shared in these pages. Together, we can build a more understanding, compassionate world. Our thanks to the Illinois Charitable Trust Stabilization Fund for making this collaboration possible.
The seeds of change are found in everyday experience. The stories of people who live in supportive housing can shed light on important issues, such as what it is like to experience homelessness or live with mental illness or a disability. Because of this, during 2019, the Supportive Housing Providers Association (SHPA) and Housing Action Illinois partnered to bring a series of five workshops to help residents of permanent supportive housing explore telling stories to make a difference. The stories in this publication grew out of the workshops, and we are grateful to everyone whose experiences are shared in these pages. Together, we can build a more understanding, compassionate world.
Our thanks to the Illinois Charitable Trust Stabilization Fund for making this collaboration possible.
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ALLISON
Hillside workshop
“The things I’ve
accomplished by
being housed are
so awesome!”
What housing means to me: I look at it as making me a better person. The
things that I have accomplished by being housed are so awesome! Before I
was housed, I was a homeless mother of three, living from house to house,
sleeping in houses that maybe a friend or family moved out of until the
landlord asked us to leave. I was eating out of the garbage or waiting for
people to finish eating so that we could eat. I slept on trains and on buses.
Now, looking at my life…what a long road! Now I’m
here, sitting on a few boards, working with AAMC,
UIC, Mile Square Health, and Science Center. I am
a Speak UP! Advocate through CSH.
“What a
long road!”
I have been in my own apartment for nine years. I wake up everyday with
a smile on my face and thank God and supportive housing programs
for this life that I’m living now—no more sleeping on the train, bus, on
the streets, or in outdoor bathrooms. I have a good relationship with my
family, and I have friends.
I help people like myself find housing. I started a Christmas giveaway
for mothers with mental illness, as well as a program where we pass
out coats, hats, and gloves to the homeless. These are just some of the
things that I do now. I want to say thank you to two very important
organizations: Thresholds, for saving my life; and CSH, for teaching me
about housing and why it is so important to be housed first. To them I
say thank you, and thank you all so much for listening to my story!
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