Supportive Housing Providers Association Programs
Advocacy
SHPA is committed to keeping our ear to the ground on state and federal issues affecting supportive housing and its stakeholders. We advocate to sustain supportive housing in Illinois by influencing and creating legislation, changes to funding and policies, administrative and state agency policies, and strive to develop proactive and responsive campaigns as needed. Our annual Advocacy Day is an opportunity for SHPA members to join together in advocacy power and meet with our state representatives and congresspeople and express the essential need to create more supportive housing and discuss other legislative policies that affect supportive housing residents and people experiencing homelessness.
Training & Technical Assistance
Training & Technical Assistance: SHPA is committed to offering support to our members in best practices in the supportive housing sector. We offer ongoing trainings to member organizations in the fundamentals of supportive housing, standards in supportive housing operations, as well as other topics, both consistent and nuance. SHPA provides trainings regionally, virtually, as well as our annual events. Members can also work with SHPA staff to setup in person technical assistance on various topics or areas of support. {The link can lead to training schedule or how to contact
SOAR (SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery) is a national program designed to help eligible adults and children experiencing or at risk for homelessness access Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. We provide an evidence-based practice for assisting qualifying individuals who are unable to work due to severe disabilities, a key stepping-stone on the path to safe and stable housing.
SHPA’s Statewide SOAR Coordinator acts as SOAR Team Lead for the State of Illinois. This person responsible for developing and implementing a statewide plan to advance the SOAR program and support SOAR-trained case workers to implement the initiative effectively. We help train case workers with the complex application process including the preparation of complete, high-quality applications and gathering necessary medical records, which significantly increases approval rates for these critical income and health insurance supports.
Peer Leadership Development Program
When multiple stakeholders, a shifting social service landscape, and complex policy initiatives collide, sometimes organizations unwittingly drift from those they are most committed to helping. Not here.
SHPA’s very own Peer Leadership Development Program mobilizes individuals who have experienced homelessness, disabilities, and unnecessary institutionalization, to establish a unified voice that informs our work, and that of our member organizations.
This voice is used in many spaces throughout the state of Illinois for awareness and advocacy to create positive changes starting at the community level for our people living in permanent supportive housing.
We offer a safe place from the ravages of trauma for growth, awareness, and empathy. Together, we are a strong community who resolutely faces and embraces recovery, reentry, and physical and/or mental health challenges to defy stereotypes and promote resilience.
HETAC: Homeless Education Technical Assistance Center
HETAC DELIVERS BEST PRACTICES AND OTHER ESSENTIAL SUPPORT TO HELP OUR MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS REMAIN ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF SOCIAL SERVICE DELIVERY IN THEIR COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE STATE.
The Supportive Housing Providers Association administers and facilitates the Illinois Homelessness Education and Technical Assistance Center (HETAC), after winning a competitively awarded grant. The HETAC Center first launched in the spring of 2023, and subcontracts state funds to support projects aligned with the Home Illinois Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. Projects include the Rural Homelessness Report, One System Initiative, Statewide Medicaid Capacity Building, Homeless Systems-change and Data Improvement projects, 100-Day Challenges, Peer Leadership, Community Advisory Council on Homelessness Annual Report, Home Illinois Summit, and Public Benefits Advocacy and Training, among other projects.
SHPA contracts with High Ground Partners LLC and Project Mavens to provide project development and management support