Central to Mercy Housing Lakefront’s work is the belief that housing is health. Individuals and families without stable homes experience a variety of harmful consequences, including vast and deep health challenges that can negatively impact all areas of their lives. These challenges have only become more pronounced as those with limited means have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. 

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For Gregorio, a Belray Apartments resident, homelessness during the pandemic presented an existential threat as he struggled with asthma. His story is representative of thousands more. That is why we are so grateful for your support in 2020.

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With your help, we reopened the Miriam Apartments in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood after a complete rehabilitation of this historic building, preserving it for decades to come. Also in Uptown, we closed on financing and began another historic rehabilitation at the Major Jenkins Apartments. 

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You also helped make our annual Moving Forward Together event — held virtually for the first time — an overwhelming success. The event’s keynote conversation underscored the deep connection between housing and health. While service-enriched, affordable housing cannot solve every societal challenge, it is the foundation on which we can collectively begin to address systemic inequalities that have plagued communities for far too long.   

This belief will continue to drive our work moving forward as we further integrate housing and health-related services. With a $1 million grant from Meridian Health Plan of Illinois, we will develop a new structure to more effectively deliver healthcare and supportive services for permanent supportive housing residents in Chicago.  

With significant challenges come meaningful opportunities for progress. You made it possible for us to seize opportunities in 2020 — for this, we are grateful. 

Yours in Hope,