The Village of Oak Park plans to provide $575,000 to Housing Forward for the operation of the Anderson Emergency Shelter in 2027, according to Kevin Bueso, the village’s finance chief.
“Housing Forward values its longstanding partnership with the Village of Oak Park and its continued commitment to addressing homelessness in our community. The village’s support helps sustain critical services, including the Anderson Emergency Shelter, which has helped more than 200 individuals and families in its first year of operation,” wrote Housing Forward CEO Lynda Schueler in a statement to Wednesday Journal.
Housing Forward opened the 40-bed emergency shelter in October 2025 at 112 S. Humphrey Ave. That doubled the number of unhoused residents the organization was able to serve with overnight shelter. The village awarded the organization $645,587 in January 2026 after they did not receive state funding.
“This partnership allows us to provide a safe place for people experiencing homelessness, connect them with resources and services, and help them take steps toward housing stability. As the need for these services continues, strong partnerships with local municipalities are essential to ensuring our community has effective solutions to homelessness,” wrote Schueler.
The shelter provides temporary services for individuals and families with children with overnight sleeping accommodations, a weekly on-site medical clinic, meals, showers and personal storage. The facility is open everyday year-round from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m.
“We’re taking on, as the Village of Oak Park, more than historically it’s been true, but now with this current federal administration, more so than ever before, not only are we seeing interest rates going up, costs going up for all of us but federal support that is leaving us with a gap to fill,” said Village President Vicki Scaman. “I’m grateful for the partnerships that we have with our many nonprofits in our community, so that we can remain the beautiful community that we are.”
Some $400,000 of the future funding will come out of the general fund reserves and $175,000 will come from Community Development Block Grant funding, according to Bueso.
CDBG is a federal program through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to support a variety of different community initiatives. For Oak Park, the focus for that funding is “decent, affordable housing, a suitable living environment and expanded economic opportunities for individuals and families with low to moderate incomes,” according to the village website.
“This is also what I’m talking about when I say live our values,” said Scaman. “This provides ways for people to have what they need to live and thrive, and the challenges of today have more people facing significant economic challenges than ever before. This is something that we understand to be a need.”
The funding is included in the proposed 2027 village budget which will not be officially voted on and adopted by the village board until December.