COSIGN PARTNERS INC

When it comes to homelessness, prevention is the best policy

Reducing homelessness in Chicago requires us to seriously focus on preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place. Research has shown that the single best predictor of becoming homeless is having previously been in a shelter. Additionally, so does having a pending eviction—whether a verbal threat or an official notice.  

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Cosign Partners has been providing a second chance apartment rental program in Chicago for decades helping its renters with evictions, broken leases and rental balances. Cosign Partners uses a second chance rental prevention strategy designed to help any renters with less than perfect credit or poor rental history to rent again in just a few days.

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Working with Cosign Partners caring second chance apartment rental specialist will get you on the right track to renting again. Requesting their no credit check apartment listings in Chicago can be a helpful tool in finding the right second chance apartment rental. To learn more about Cosign Partners and their programs click here or complete the form on this page to have a specialist contact you.

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According to the Lawyers Committee for Better Housing Chicago Evictions data portal we had an average of 23,000 eviction filings a year between 2010 and 2017, and about 60 percent of those cases ended in eviction orders. 

Most were low-income and behind on their rent due to either losing their job, an unexpected car repair, a health care emergency or a higher-than-usual heating bill.

These are the struggles of more than 200,000 low-income families and individuals in Chicago that can’t afford their housing (i.e., they're paying 30 percent or more of their income for rent, with about half paying more than 50 percent of their income for rent; see "Chicago’s housing jam," in the July 26 issue of Crain's). 

What if instead of being evicted, resources were available to help prevent these families and individuals from losing their home? This would include rent assistance but also legal counseling and support services that can meet people where they're at in their lives and help them become more stable and able to stay in their home and neighborhood. Such programs do exist in Illinois and Chicago, but are grossly underfunded (a couple million dollars annually in good years) compared to funding for shelters. 

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While shelters are needed to help people in need of a warm, safe and dry place to stay, more resources are required for “upstream strategies” that can prevent homelessness and eviction, and to reduce housing instability. Besides being less disruptive to people's lives, such strategies can start to address larger structural problems that lead to homelessness. They also can be cost effective in the long run.  

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A 2016 study found that a household receiving about $1,000 for rent assistance was 88 percent less likely to become homeless after three months. While that rate decreased to 76 percent after six months, the researchers found prevention effects were sustained two years out. Such programs provide more than financial assistance—they are resource and counseling centers that help people deal with housing instability. 

And while there are costs to operating such programs, the same study found that it was less than half the cost of the $20,000 needed on average to provide shelter for a short period of time.  

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A holistic approach to homeless prevention in Chicago should include: 

1) Eviction prevention (legal representation, financial assistance, mediation).

2) Deep rental subsidies for low-income renters.

3) Wraparound community services including assistance with child care, employment and job placement, and education.

4) Case management, especially for people with severe mental illness or addictions.

5) Targeted assistance for the most vulnerable of renters.  

None of these ideas are new, but they are now part of a growing base of evidence that prevention strategies work, especially among people at a high risk of becoming homeless, of whom there are many in Chicago. 

And while prevention is cost effective, we should do this because no one in our city should bear the cost of being homeless. 

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Janet L. Smith is a professor of urban planning and policy and co-director of the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood & Community Improvement at the University of Illinois at Chicago. 

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To learn more about Cosign Partners second chance rental program in Chicago Illinois read here.