Home for the Holidays
United Way's Stable Housing Fund is a subset of our larger Financial Stability Impact Fund. Over the past five years, we've awarded over $115,000 to local housing and shelter efforts, but we know that a much greater investment is needed moving forward.
From Giving Tuesday, December 3rd, to United Way's birthday on December 17th, we hope to raise $8,000 - via the Stable Housing Fund - to support housing and shelter efforts for 2025. All gifts made to this Fund will be earmarked for investment in services that are truly champions for housing and shelter in our community.
Your gift truly, tangibly changes lives - keeping individuals and families in safe and stable housing right here in our community.
Numbers don't lie. Our community is in a housing crisis.
We believe housing is a cornerstone for our neighbors' health, well-being, and economic stability. Lacking housing impacts your mental, emotional, and physical health. It prevents you from investing in your long-term well-being, forcing you to compromise on risky financial decisions, and forces many families to put education on the back burner.
Data from our region's 211 call center shows that since January 2024 we've received 930 calls from Kankakee County residents and 113 calls from Iroquois County residents in need of housing support. Housing and shelter currently represent nearly 40% of all local referrals made.
Housing and Shelter has consistently been the #1 expressed need in Kankakee & Iroquois Counties for the last four years, as shown by local 211 data. Based on this data from our local call center, Kankakee County’s housing requests currently rank 5th highest per-county in the state of Illinois.