Funding Available for New Arrivals and People Experiencing Homelessness 

July 15, 2024 – The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus is administering $9,524,000 in state funding for fiscal year 2025, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) to support municipalities statewide outside of Chicago in providing support services to individuals experiencing homelessness and/or receiving new arrivals. The Supporting Municipalities for Asylum Seeker Services (SMASS) grant program is part of a joint planning effort by Illinois, Chicago, and Cook County.

Timeline

  • Application open: July 15, 2024.
  • Information Session: July 18, 2024, 11 AM-12;30 PM. Register
  • Award Announcement: August 14, 2024
  • Grant Term: July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025

Eligibility

Municipal governments and Community Based Organizations (501-C3) that have the support of the local municipality where services will be provided are eligible to apply for funding. Municipalities and CBOs must be outside of the city of Chicago. For the purpose of SMASS funding, municipal governments are defined as any level of public government within the State of Illinois.

While grants will be made directly to lead applicants, these funds may be made available to other municipalities and/or organizations (e.g., non-profit organizations, academic institutions, community health centers, etc.) that partner with the lead applicant.

  • Disbursement of funds to sub-grantee partners will be at the discretion and responsibility of the lead applicant. Lead applicants are not limited in the number of sub-grantee partners with whom they can choose to work.
  • Municipalities are encouraged to coordinate with any local “overlapping” units of government who may also be interested (e.g., a county and a town within the county) to ensure that duplicative responses are not submitted.
  • For municipalities that apply in partnership, any municipality involved can choose to serve as the lead applicant. There will be no additional funding or administrative overhead for the lead applicant.
  • Grantees must be GATA compliant.

Use of Funds

Available funding is restricted to the following services directly impacting people experiencing homelessness and/or new arrivals. Asylum seeker, also referred to as a New Arrival, is defined as “an individual who crossed the Mexico/U.S. border on or after August 1, 2022, with the intent to stay permanently, and who does not possess any permanent or interim U.S. legal status (which does not include being in parole status), such as legal permanent residency, a student or work visa, etc.”

  • Shelter and Transitional Housing Support
  • Food
  • Wraparound Services
  • Legal Assistance
  • Healthcare

A lead applicant staff’s time dedicated to coordinating direct service provision to people experiencing homlessness and/or new arrivals can be considered eligible expenses and included in budget requests. These expenses are expected to be kept to the minimum amount necessary to support operations, and priority will be given to funding for direct services. At least 51% of the requested funding needs to be used to serve new arrivals. 

Please see our webpage for more information.