The Supportive Housing Solution Parents and Children Need
We’re so much more than a shelter.
We are a family.
Not Just Another Shelter
Our unique program is long-term, holistic, and comprehensive. Finding a healthy path forward doesn’t happen overnight. We provide a safe environment for parents and children to find their footing in this world and strategically build towards a stable future.
What Current Residents Say
The Well of Mercy has given me the opportunity of a lifetime. Knowing that I have a real chance to get a hold of my life and show my children what real strength is...no words can describe how grateful I am.
We Are Proud To Offer Our Resident Families
A safe, secure place to live for up to 5 years
Career mentoring and job placement services
Workshops designed to develop life skills
Private and group counseling for parents and children
Free in-home daycare during school and work time
A warm, supportive and inclusive environment
What Can Residents Expect Living At The Well?
The Well of Mercy addresses educational needs, spiritual growth and development, physical well-being, and emotional health. Our five phase program helps parents learn to make better choices for themselves and their children. The model of The Well incorporates accountability with full participation in the change process.
The familial experience in community living works with shared daily responsibilities and chores including shopping, cooking, and cleaning.
The residents participate in sessions which explore parenting, grief and loss, domestic violence awareness, financial literacy, establishing healthy boundaries, and social skills.
Working closely with a counselor, they define and set personal and professional goals. Then build a path forward, enroll in school, find a job, and set a budget.
Parents finish school and begin their careers with the support they need. In time, saving enough to move out on their own.
Chicago’s Long-Term Supportive Housing & Services
What is Long-Term Supportive Housing?
This is one of the most successful models based on research regarding how those with significant challenges of homelessness and abuse can avoid future cycles of poverty and homelessness. Long-Term Supportive Housing combines stable housing with best-practice services and therapies to guide individuals and families at their most vulnerable stage. This model has been demonstrated to permanently keep the majority of residents who enter the program from becoming homeless again.
Is Long-Term Supportive Housing just another word for “homeless shelter”?
No, Supportive Housing is not a regular homeless shelter. In fact, a shelter is not housing. A shelter is designed to provide a transitional or temporary place to sleep or live. Long-Term Supportive Housing is designed to help people permanently avoid homelessness by providing a safe home for up to 5 years to systematically build the foundation for a better path forward.
Generally, a shelter automatically sets a limitation on the time that someone can live there and if housing cannot be found at that time, the person is likely to return to his/her homeless condition. Many shelters limit the hours a person can be onsite, only providing refuge during the nighttime hours and the homeless must exit the premises during the daytime hours.
Our residential housing solutions offer a safe harbor for parents and their young children to heal, learn, and grow with a community supporting them every step of the way. The combination of housing, childcare support, and parental programs work in unison to shape well-rounded, confident parents that create and implement a plan to move forward to a brighter future.