Providing safe, overnight shelter and support services to people who are experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity in our community.
A community based non-profit in Chicago's north and northwest suburbs, JOURNEYS | The Road Home provides shelter and services to people experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of losing their housing.
Homelessness and housing insecurity have risen at alarming rates over the past year and the solutions to this growing problem are complex. Financial instability now affects a wider segment of our population, extending into the middle class. JOURNEYS has grown to include over 70 services which are available free of charge to anyone from the community who needs help. These services offset costs typically absorbed by other community organizations including hospitals, first responders, municipalities, and legal systems.
JOURNEYS is here to help everyone find a safe, stable place to call home.
Homelessness and housing insecurity have risen at alarming rates over the past year and the solutions to this growing problem are complex. Financial instability now affects a wider segment of our population, extending into the middle class. JOURNEYS has grown to include over 70 services which are available free of charge to anyone from the community who needs help. These services offset costs typically absorbed by other community organizations including hospitals, first responders, municipalities, and legal systems.
JOURNEYS is here to help everyone find a safe, stable place to call home.
This Past Year at JOURNEYS
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Housing Insecurity: An Invisible Problem
The people most often overlooked are those who are about to lose the roof over their heads. Hidden behind four walls, their all-too-real daily struggles are becoming an urgent crisis.
Over the past few years, housing insecurity has become one of the most complex challenges our communities face. It goes far beyond visible homelessness. It affects working families who can’t keep up with rising rents, seniors forced to choose between medicine and a roof over their heads, young people aging out of foster care, and countless others teetering on the edge of displacement due to economic shocks, health crises, or systemic inequality.
For the first time in our history, we are seeing more and more people who have homes and are fighting to just stay in them instead of people coming through our doors just for shelter. Nearly half of the people who walk through our front door just need support to stay afloat so they don't end up on the street. JOURNEYS routinely updates programs and services to better assist this growing population.
The people most often overlooked are those who are about to lose the roof over their heads. Hidden behind four walls, their all-too-real daily struggles are becoming an urgent crisis.
Over the past few years, housing insecurity has become one of the most complex challenges our communities face. It goes far beyond visible homelessness. It affects working families who can’t keep up with rising rents, seniors forced to choose between medicine and a roof over their heads, young people aging out of foster care, and countless others teetering on the edge of displacement due to economic shocks, health crises, or systemic inequality.
For the first time in our history, we are seeing more and more people who have homes and are fighting to just stay in them instead of people coming through our doors just for shelter. Nearly half of the people who walk through our front door just need support to stay afloat so they don't end up on the street. JOURNEYS routinely updates programs and services to better assist this growing population.
When Safety Nets Fail, Children Pay the Highest Price
Housing insecurity is devastating for anyone—but for children, its effects can last a lifetime. These children are not just losing a roof over their heads—they are losing their safety, their routines, their access to education, and, often, their sense of hope.
Failing to address family homelessness is more than just a social tragedy. We are collectively failing our collective future when children get left behind. These future teachers, nurses, artists, neighbors, leaders all deserve a chance to thrive, and that starts with having a safe place to sleep every night.
When families are supported, children have a chance to grow—not just survive. At JOURNEYS, we’re not just fighting homelessness—we’re fighting for futures.
Housing insecurity is devastating for anyone—but for children, its effects can last a lifetime. These children are not just losing a roof over their heads—they are losing their safety, their routines, their access to education, and, often, their sense of hope.
Failing to address family homelessness is more than just a social tragedy. We are collectively failing our collective future when children get left behind. These future teachers, nurses, artists, neighbors, leaders all deserve a chance to thrive, and that starts with having a safe place to sleep every night.
When families are supported, children have a chance to grow—not just survive. At JOURNEYS, we’re not just fighting homelessness—we’re fighting for futures.
With homelessness becoming too visible a problem to ignore, many cities are turning to punitive measures that criminalize homelessness—banning encampments, issuing citations for sleeping in public, or displacing people without offering real alternatives. But homelessness is not a crime. It is a crisis.
Our CEO, Beth Nabors Powers, is leading with a different vision: one grounded in human dignity, practical solutions, and systemic change. As the leader of one of the region’s most trusted homelessness resource centers, she advocates for those who are too often ignored, blamed, or pushed out of sight.
Beth works tirelessly to shift the conversation—from fear to empathy, from temporary fixes to long-term investments in community, stability, and prevention.
Though the needs of each community and city may differ, there is always space to create long-term and compassionate responses to homelessness. Beth has encouraged local leaders to consider uniting and empowering local leaders, stakeholders, first responders, and experienced social service agencies to respond when the need arises. These groups, with their experience and resources, can act decisively to provide strategic solutions that lead to lasting change and improvement for the entire shared community.
JOURNEYS programs and services could not operate daily without the efforts of the volunteers who go above and beyond to make sure safe, comfortable space is always ready for people who need help.
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PADS Shelters operate October through April and provide safe, overnight shelter, a hot dinner and breakfast, and a to-go lunch every day.
JOURNEYS operates the PADS program across Chicago's north and northwest suburbs in partnership with local faith communities who are willing to host sites at their location. PADS stays open during some of the harshest weeks of fall, winter, and spring in the Chicago area to help people stay off the streets at night.
Combined with the shelter space at JOURNEYS main facility in Palatine, many people are offered respite from dangerous weather conditions. However, because of the rising problem of homelessness, these shelter spaces reach capacity most nights and people have to be turned away. Because the demand and need for shelter is greater than the supply of beds and space available, JOURNEYS has to award shelter slots through a lottery process.
JOURNEYS operates the PADS program across Chicago's north and northwest suburbs in partnership with local faith communities who are willing to host sites at their location. PADS stays open during some of the harshest weeks of fall, winter, and spring in the Chicago area to help people stay off the streets at night.
Combined with the shelter space at JOURNEYS main facility in Palatine, many people are offered respite from dangerous weather conditions. However, because of the rising problem of homelessness, these shelter spaces reach capacity most nights and people have to be turned away. Because the demand and need for shelter is greater than the supply of beds and space available, JOURNEYS has to award shelter slots through a lottery process.
PADS Shelters have served the Chicago area for over 50 years, providing a place to stay for people who are experiencing homelessness. The program began in partnership with many local faith communities to address the rising homeless crisis. Local churches and other faith partners continue to work alongside JOURNEYS to help people in our community who are in need. This past year, 12 local churches partnered with JOURNEYS to host PADS sites at their location and dozens of other churches and community organizations stepped up to volunteer and cook meals throughout the winter.
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JOURNEYS is proud to share that the financial state of the organization is stable and strong. Through years of consistent partnerships and organizational leadership, the agency has been able to grow and maintain a steady stream of programs to support those in need.
Through the diversification of JOURNEYS support, the negative effects of economic downturns or governmental policy shifts is kept to a minimum. JOURNEYS receives very little federal funding compared to many other area non-profits. The recent changes in budget priorities has raised alarms for many service providers across the state, but JOURNEYS' revenue will remain largely intact in spite of those changes. The biggest hurdle we expect to face is the spillover from clients getting turned away from other local services that end up at JOURNEYS as their final safety net. For more information on governmental budget challenges, read Beth Nabors Powers' press release.
Here's a glimpse at our current financial state.
Through the diversification of JOURNEYS support, the negative effects of economic downturns or governmental policy shifts is kept to a minimum. JOURNEYS receives very little federal funding compared to many other area non-profits. The recent changes in budget priorities has raised alarms for many service providers across the state, but JOURNEYS' revenue will remain largely intact in spite of those changes. The biggest hurdle we expect to face is the spillover from clients getting turned away from other local services that end up at JOURNEYS as their final safety net. For more information on governmental budget challenges, read Beth Nabors Powers' press release.
Here's a glimpse at our current financial state.
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