The Harbor provides permanent supportive housing for up to sixteen chronically homeless individuals with a disabling condition (i.e. substance abuse, mental illness, physical disabilities, etc.) This project provides housing for our community’s most vulnerable population. The Harbor targets those that are the greatest utilizers of community resources, including police and ambulance services, as well as those who are frequent hospital emergency room patients – often for non-emergency reasons.
Each individual has their own dorm-room style housing unit with 24/7 on-site staff to assist with life skills (cooking, etc.) as well as access to all of the services in our Comprehensive Homeless Resource Center (e.g. mental health counseling, primary health/medical care, substance abuse counseling, etc.) There is a shared kitchen, laundry room and bathrooms for the residents along with a computer lab and community room.
Special thanks to the FUSE initiative, a collaboration between City of Aurora, Aurora Fire Department, Aurora Police Department, Presence Mercy Medical Center, Rush Copley Medical Center, Hesed House, Breaking Free and Association for Individual Development. The explicit mission of the FUSE Initiative is to develop innovative solutions for the chronically homeless individuals who frequently use public services like ambulances and emergency rooms.
The Harbor is funded in part by a Federal grant through HUD which requires that we house only those single adults throughout Kane County who have the “highest” vulnerability score as assessed on the “Vulnerability Index & Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool” (or VI-SPDAT), as well as the longest period of time homeless. This comprehensive assessment is completed after the individual has become homeless. All chronically homeless individuals across Kane County are then ranked and placed on one coordinated county list based on their level of vulnerability and need. Currently there are over 100 individuals on this list.
