FY25 Funding for Asylum Seekers/New Arrivals and People Experiencing Homelessness

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 asylum seekers/new arrivals. SMASS FY25 will fund expenses associated with the following five eligible services: Shelter and Transitional Housing Support, Food, Wraparound Services, Legal Assistance, Health & Wellness.

This grant program is part of a joint planning effort by Illinois, Chicago, and Cook County.

SMASS III – AWARD RECIPIENTS

  • City of Champaign: $709,705.69
  • Lake County: $1,130,237.67
  • Village of Oak Park: $299,000.00
  • Village of Ford Heights: $1,238,406.00
  • BEDS Plus Inc.: $878,000.00
  • Centro de Informacíon: $1,704,572.45
  • The Immigration Project: $702,411.00
  • Respond Now: $706,462.50
  • Rincon Family Services: $1,454,008.34
  • Western Illinois Dreamers: $374,435.72
  • World Relief Quad Cities: $326,885.64

Definition of “Asylum Seeker” also referred to as New Arrival

The definition of “asylum seeker” for the purposes of this funding opportunity is as follows. (This eligibility definition may differ in other contexts.)

“Asylum seeker 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.”

Use of Funds

All SMASS grant funds must be obligated and expended within the state of Illinois fiscal year 2025: July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025.

Available funding is restricted to the following services directly supporting people experiencing homelessness and/or new arrivals:

Shelter & Transitional Housing Support:

  • Safe and stable temporary housing options for asylum seekers, including emergency shelter and transitional housing. [Note—funds can be used towards shelter operating expenses and/or minor capital repairs necessary to make shelters operational]
  • *Short-term rental assistance.
  • Case management services to secure more permanent housing.

Food: Healthy and nutritious food options [Note—funds can be used for direct provision of food services and/or to obtain cold storage units (e.g., refrigerators) to increase availability of fresh produce and protein]

Wraparound Services: Case management services and connection to support that increase self-sufficiency, including addressing urgent client needs, non-legal immigration support and referrals, early childhood education and school enrollment, ESL and adult education, informational workshops, interpretations and translations services, transportation, and health and wellness services, etc., assistance in screening for eligibility, and applying for eligible public benefits.

Legal Assistance:

  • Provide legal training, workshops, services, and/or representation.
  • Services to help asylum seekers navigate the complex legal processes related to their asylum applications and other legal needs.
  • Assist with the cost of applications for asylum seekers.

Health and Wellness: Access to physical, behavioral, and/or mental healthcare, and crisis services to address the trauma and stress often experienced by asylum seekers.

The lead applicant’s staff time dedicated to coordinating direct service provision to people experiencing homelessness 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.

*Rental Assistance Guidance:

  • Required: Funds can only be used to offset costs for rent in State fiscal year 2025.
  • Required: Can only be used to directly fund rental costs (i.e., other moving-related costs like security deposits are not eligible).
  • Recommended: Pair with wraparound services to enable long term housing stability (e.g., workforce development, ESL, etc.), whether funded through SMASS or through other funding.
  • Recommended: Prioritize for and, if possible, limit to, those who have not previously received rental assistance.

At least 51% of the requested funding needs to be used to serve new arrivals.

Distribution of Funds

In partnership with the Illinois Department of Human Services, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus is administering a grant application.

Eligibility of Applicants

Local governments statewide outside of Chicago receiving or willing to receive new arrivals are eligible to apply. Local municipalities (city, town, or village) can support the application of a community based organization (501(c)(3) CBO) in their community that is able and willing to provide services to new arrivals. Funding can also be used to provide services to people experiencing homelessness. However, the majority of requested funding must be used to serve new arrivals. For the purposes of SMASS funding, local governments are defined as any level of public government within the State of Illinois, including county level government. Local municipalities are defined as the primary unit of jurisdiction below the county level (e.g., a city, town, or village).

Lead Applicant: While grants will be made directly to the lead applicant, these funds may be made available to other municipalities and/or organizations (e.g., non-profit organizations, academic institutions, community health centers, etc.) that choose to apply as subgrantee partner(s) to the lead municipality.

  • Disbursement of funds to subgrantee partners will be at the discretion and responsibility of the lead applicant. Lead applicants are not limited in the number of subgrantee partners with whom they can choose to apply.
  • In advance of the application submission, municipalities must notify any local “overlapping” unit of government (e.g., a county and a town within that county) to ensure that application responses for duplicative services are not submitted. CBOs are required to submit a letter of support from the municipality where services will be provided to people experiencing homelessness and/or new arrivals to be considered for funding.
  • If municipalities choose to apply in partnership, any municipality involved can choose to apply as the lead municipality. There will be no additional funding or administrative overhead provided for lead municipalities.

Grantees must be registered in the Illinois GATA Grantee Portal and must be GATA Pre-Qualified
Grantees must complete the FY25 ICQ (Accessed through the Grantee Portal)

Important Information

Information Session: Thursday, July 18 

Step 1:
Complete the Grant Application.

Step 2:
Submit the following documents via emai:

  • Budget
  • Scope (program goals)
  • Workplan

All requested information must be submitted for funding consideration. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until funds are exhausted or the application deadline is reached.

Application closed August 5, 2024.

SMASS FY25 Process and Guidance

SMASS evaluation

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis through 5 pm on August 5, 2024. CBO applicants must be 501-c3 and have a letter of support from the local municipality or municipalities (city, town, or village) where services will be provided. Complete submissions will be reviewed for applicant eligibility, the viability of the program scope, program budget, service objectives, program workplan, in addition to applicant and partner experience in providing services to people experiencing homelessness and/or new arrivals. Proposals do not need to include all eligible services. At least 51% of requested funding needs to be used to serve new arrivals.

Grant awards to eligible municipalities or the CBOs they support will be based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to available funding, viability of proposed services and work plan, and the experience and capacity of both the lead applicant and its partners.

All SMASS FY25 funding must be obligated and expended by June 30, 2025 and can be used to reimburse eligible expenses beginning on July 1, 2024.

Questions

Please direct Media inquiries to Rachel Otwell: rachel.otwell@illinois.gov.
Submit questions to MMC at idhsgrant@mayorscaucus.org.