In August 2021, the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice and the Department of Housing convened the Housing Stability Community Response Team (HSCRT) in partnership with the Chicago Community Trust, the Polk Bros. Foundation, and local nonprofits and community leaders. The aim of the HSCRT was to address the end of the eviction moratorium in the City’s most impacted communities and understand issues facing families related to housing stability. Through conversations with the HSCRT, we’ve heard that one major challenge in communities is that residents who are most in need of support are not connected to the resources and information that can help them. As such, one goal of the HSCRT is to train and equip local residents and front-line leaders, what the team called “Community Connectors,” with up-to-date information about housing resources that they can share with their fellow Chicagoans.

On November 30, 2022, the HSCRT hosted the first Community Connector training where attendees learned about the work of the Department of Housing, local housing and eviction data, renters’ rights and evictions and court processes. Over 180 participants attended from government, nonprofits, and block clubs. The presentation from that training can be found here.

HSCRT Members