Coordinated Housing Advocacy Brings Stability to Low-Income Individuals

What is coordinated housing advocacy?
Coordinated housing advocacy brings together housing advocates from agencies across the city to share resources and best practices in order to provide the highest-quality services to clients in need of housing assistance. Rather than maintaining separate lists of available housing units, a coordinated system allows for advocates to update one another on available stock via one comprehensive housing inventory list.

What is AFC’s role in coordinated housing advocacy?
Since 1999, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) has overseen the coordinated housing advocacy system. AFC trains all new housing advocates, holds monthly team meetings that foster greater collaboration and communication among advocates, and provides technical assistance to housing agencies and advocates.

What's the difference between a case manager and a housing advocate?
The distinction between housing advocates and HIV case managers is unique to the Chicago area. Housing advocates are specialists who receive expert training to assist people living with HIV/AIDS and their case managers address potential housing challenges and better understand legal issues associated with housing placement and landlord/tenant rights.

What services do housing advocates provide clients?
Housing advocates work on the front-line to assist clients, referred by their HIV-case managers, to determine what housing options and related supportive services are available and most appropriate for their needs. They assess each client’s current housing situation by gathering basic demographic information, source(s) of income, credit history, pending and current debt(s), and most recent places of residence, and then help them to develop a housing plan with action steps to obtain their long-term housing goals. In addition, housing advocates work to develop relationships with landlords in the Chicago area to expedite client placement.

Who are the partners within the coordinated housing advocacy system?
Housing advocates from several community-based HIV/AIDS service organizations, including AGAPE Missions Inc, BEHIV, Heartland Human Care Services, New Phoenix Assistance Center, Pilsen Little Village, and Vital Bridges, have served as the first point of contact for people living with HIV/AIDS who need assistance with identifying and maintaining appropriate, affordable, long-term housing.

Where can I find the comprehensive housing inventory list?
AFC recently launched an online housing directory to assist HIV housing advocates, as well as other social service professionals and people in the community, to locate housing resources and housing service providers. The only housing database of its kind nationwide, the online directory also includes a password-protected area for housing advocates to track landlords, homeowners, and homesharing programs, facilitating more effective client placement.

Similar to the housing advocacy training sessions, the online housing directory fosters greater communication and collaboration among housing advocates in different agencies in order to provide the most consistent, highest-quality services to clients, and creates an environment where housing advocates share resources rather than compete for them. In 2005, housing advocates provided 6,861 hours of service to an estimated 3,155 unduplicated people living with HIV/AIDS.

Does your agency have supportive housing units?
If you answered YES, call AFC to schedule an Online Housing Directory Demonstration. It’s an easy way to let the public know the contact information, application process and eligibility criteria of your program. It can also help your agency be connected to a variety of housing resources.

Your housing staff will learn how to register for a username and password, enter the program information, and keep it updated on a regular basis.

More information: For general information on Housing Advocacy and the Online Housing Directory, please contact Ric Martel at (312) 922-2322.

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