Oak Park will provide over $645,000 in funding to Housing Forward this year in order to cover operating costs for the group’s new Oak Park emergency overnight homeless shelter.
At its final meeting of 2025, Oak Park’s village board approved a measure allocating $645,587 in one-time grant funding to Housing Forward to support the operation of the group’s recently opened overnight shelter at 112 S. Humphrey Ave. in the village. The new shelter’s October opening doubled the number of people that Housing Forward could provide overnight shelter to, and village officials have credited its opening with quickly reducing the number of people living on the street in Oak Park.
This grant for 2026 operating expenses was requested after Housing Forward did not receive grant funding from the state of Illinois, according to village staff. The Oak Park grant money would be offset by any public funding the shelter receives over the year, said staff.
“While the state allocated $7 million to support emergency services for unhoused residents in 2026, Housing Forward was not awarded funds to support shelter operations in 2026,” village staff wrote of the grant. “As a result, staff are requesting authorization for up to $645,587 to sustain the village’s emergency shelter operations in 2026. If additional funding is later secured through the state or Cook County to support shelter operations, the village’s contribution will be reduced accordingly.”
The shelter opened this year after significant public investment from both Oak Park and Cook County. Oak Park provided over $367,000 in grant money for the shelter last February, while the county delivered an additional $250,000 to support the project in July.
Village officials told Wednesday Journal last month that approximately 20 people had been sleeping in the vicinity of Scoville Park before the new shelter opened in the fall. Several of those people were directed into beds at the new shelter as winter set in, according to village staff.
