Homeless people are much more likely to face emergency room visits, hospitalizations and premature death than the general population, and state officials are struggling to stem the crisis, according to a new report by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Underlying these efforts to end homelessness is the agency’s Home Illinois Plan.
The model emphasizes that homelessness is not driven by individual shortcomings but by housing costs and systemic inequities.
The IDPH report estimates 10,000 people in Illinois experienced “literal homelessness,” and as many as 233,000 are living in unstable arrangements.
The IDPH report found that nearly 3,000 people died statewide from 2017 to 2023 while experiencing homelessness.
Their average age at death was 20 years below the statewide average.
