(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A new executive order will dedicate more state resources to resolving homelessness in Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker said Friday.
An estimated 10,000 people are currently homeless across the state, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. In 2010, that number was more than 14,000.
Pritzker’s executive order will create a task force to consider new solutions. The panel will have representation from more than 40 community organizations, and a “State Homelessness Chief” will head the task force.
Pritzker said it's the most focused effort to end homelessness Illinois has ever organized.
“Homelessness is a circumstance. It is not an identity,” the governor said.
Prior to the pandemic, homelessness in northeastern Illinois had dropped to its lowest point in more than a decade, according to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.
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