Some people experience crises that can cause them to become homeless-job loss, health problems, domestic violence, fire, and others. Ending homelessness means prevention to help people who are about to lose their homes, rapid re-housing for people who lose their homes, and support services to promote housing stability and self-sufficiency.

For the Alliance, ending homelessness means that all individuals and families facing homelessness in Chicago will have access to safe, decent, affordable housing and the resources and supports needed to sustain it.

Who is homeless in Chicago and why are they homeless? How many people are homeless in Chicago? How has Chicago responded to homelessness?

Chicago has a plan to end homelessness - Getting Housed, Staying Housed: A Collaborative Plan to End Homelessness in Chicago - developed and endorsed by agencies in Chicago that work on the front-lines of homelessness and by people who have been homeless, and endorsed by Mayor Daley in 2003. Chicago's Plan is among the most ambitious in the nation.