

2023 Homeless Point in Time & Housing Inventory Count
Each year we are required by our federal funders (US. Department of Housing & Urban Development) to conduct a Point-in-Time count of anyone in our service area who is homeless (sheltered or unsheltered) on a single night in January. This year our count will be conducted beginning at 3:00 pm on January 23rd for a 24 hour period. Anyone living in shelters, transitional housing units, or places not meant for human habitation will be counted. For those living outside, street teams will be traveling throughout the service area looking for people who are unsheltered. Anyone found will be asked to complete a survey and volunteers will attempt to connect them with homeless services.
At the same time, agencies that provide housing for the homeless will be doing an inventory count of their occupied units for the Housing Inventory County.
All of this data helps to inform funding decisions and planning for our service area.


2022 Homeless Memorial
The Northern Illinois Homeless Coalition will hold its annual Memorial Service for the Homeless on Wednesday, December 21st at 4:30pm at Beattie Park in downtown Rockford. The service will be held in the gazebo near the river.
The event is held in recognition of Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, which takes place each year on the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice (usually December 21st). The service is to remember homeless individuals in the northern Illinois region who have passed away during the previous year. This year, agencies have identified approximately 20 homeless persons who died in 2022. The service will include a short reading, music and the reading of the names of those who are being remembered.
A special thank you to the Rockford Park District for the use of their property and for their assistance with the service and to all those that participated in the event. The Christmas tree and ornament display with the names of the decedents will be placed in the lobby of the Park District’s Webbs Norman Center at 401 S. Main Street, Rockford, IL.
All community members including friends and families of the deceased are welcome to attend.