Chicago City Council approves $2.9 million purchase of Lincoln Square hotel for transitional housing, behavioral health support

The Chicago City Council signed off Wednesday on the $2.9 million purchase of the former Diplomat Hotel in the Lincoln Square neighborhood, with the goal to turn it into a pilot program site that provides behavioral health and housing support for those experiencing homelessness. [Health News Illinois]

The program will build off the experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the city offered hotel rooms to those experiencing homelessness as well as on-site healthcare workers who monitored for the virus and provided medical care for chronic health and behavioral health conditions.

Fifty-one percent of those participating in that program successfully transitioned into some type of housing, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Department Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said the pilot program will be the first long-term city program “solely focused on stabilizing people experiencing homelessness who also have major untreated health needs.”

“It’s about breaking the cycle of homelessness by first providing transitional housing while focusing on addressing these acute health needs, with a longer-term goal of eventually moving individuals into both permanent housing and ongoing healthcare,” she said.

The Diplomat Hotel was selected based on program needs, location accessibility and support from local Alderman Andre Vasquez.

In other business, the council approved a resolution to hold a subject matter hearing on an ordinance focused on addressing behavioral health in the city. 

Along with re-opening the city’s shuttered mental health clinics, the proposal would also give the health department the ability to send out crisis response teams staffed by paramedics and social workers to address mental health crises.

“These actions taken today are a tremendous step forward in implementing our vision of supporting workers and working families and individuals in need of mental healthcare and resources, which is essential to the success of our city,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said after the meeting. “While this kind of transformational change won’t happen overnight, we are determined to chart the best path forward and create a better future for all Chicagoans.”

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