For Danita, the groundbreaking ceremony at Lake Street Church in Evanston embodied much more than a renovation and reopening project.
It marked a return to the Hilda’s Place shelter for people experiencing homelessness that, 37 years ago, gave her somewhere to turn when she needed it most.
“[Our family wasn’t] looking for someone to do everything for us. We just needed a little help bridging that final gap between working hard and being able to get into our home,” said Danita, an Evanston resident who declined to publicly share her last name for safety reasons.
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“(Evanston non-profit) Connections for the Homeless provided the rental assistance that helped us get into our apartment, while Interfaith Action of Evanston helped us with some of the practical things that made it possible for us to keep moving forward.”
For more than 40 years, Hilda’s Place, one of Illinois’ longest-running emergency shelters, has provided overnight housing in the basement of Lake Street Church.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, though, Connections for the Homeless has run Hilda’s Place solely as a daytime service center.
Now, with more than $6.5 million in grant funding, Hilda’s will undergo expansive renovations, once again supplying overnight shelter services by spring 2027.
“Homelessness is not the result of personal failure,” said Betty Bogg, CEO of Connections for the Homeless, before a cheering crowd of nearly 100 community members, civic advocates, politicians and congregants at the groundbreaking.
“It is the predictable result of systems that do not work for everyone.”
The restoration project will add 30 shelter beds for all genders, plus showers, laundry and toilet facilities.
Connections’ day center, which currently operates in the soon-to-be renovated basement, will move to the first and second floors of Lake Street Church during the construction period.
According to Bogg, the non-profit plans to rebrand itself next year as “Housing Connections” to symbolize the organization’s commitment to the Evanston community.
Project funding stems from a $2 million federal grant secured in 2023 by 9th District U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, along with support from the City of Evanston, an anonymous local philanthropist and various private donors, according to officials.
Several speakers at the Aug. 12 event including Schakowsky, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, 13th District Cook County Commissioner Josina Morita and Rev. Michael Woolf, who has served as senior minister of Lake Street Church since 2019, acknowledged Connections’ efforts to increase available housing in conjunction with a broader movement of faith-based groups.
The YIGBY movement represents a national undertaking by religious leaders, housing advocates and lawmakers looking to repurpose vacant church land into affordable housing for low-income residents. YIGBY stands for “Yes in God’s Backyard,” a playful take on NIMBY, the “Not in My Backyard” sentiment sometimes used to characterize residents who resist change or new construction in their neighborhoods.
Repurposing vacant church land is a cumbersome process, however, given the required levels of zoning and other approvals required by municipal governments.
YIGBY proponents aim to advance legislation that allows churches to fast track municipal approval.
“Sometimes we must do this important work without the support that we would like,” said Rev. Woolf in his address to the crowd.
“Too often, really nice things like historical designations, landmark status, zoning, make it impossible for these same faith-based institutions to follow their call from God, and for us, this is really personal,” Woolf continued.
“We are not going to back away from this fight.. More has to be done at the local, state and federal levels to make these partnerships possible.”
Connections for the Homeless Board Chair Dan Cox said that while the YIGBY term may be only seven years old, Lake Street Church has been practicing its principles for 42 years.
“Homelessness is not someone else’s problem; it’s our community’s problem, and the solution is when communities decide that the people who are struggling belong here too,” Cox added.
According to Christine Haley, chief homelessness officer for the Illinois Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, a YIGBY-adjacent bill to expand housing access on the state level was introduced during the last legislative session in Springfield, but stalled in the Illinois General Assembly.
Officials hope to bring back reforms aimed at reducing regulatory hurdles, accelerating redevelopments and expanding financial tools for affordable housing projects at the legislative session this November.