In Illinois, homelessness more than doubled between 2023 and 2024. In Chicago, it more than tripled. Across the Lakefront region, a minimum-wage worker in Wisconsin would need to work 128 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom apartment.
Mercy Housing Lakefront has worked in this region for decades — pioneering permanent supportive housing, setting best-practice standards for case management, and building communities that outlast any single moment of crisis.
In Milwaukee, a partnership with Advocate Aurora Health brings nutrition education workshops directly to residents. In Chicago, Community Counseling Centers of Chicago delivers art-based mental health programming at permanent supportive housing sites.
In Batavia, a two-decade partnership with University of Illinois Extension brings gardening and cooking classes to children and adults.
Mercy Housing Lakefront was among the first nonprofits in the country to create Permanent Supportive Housing — now the industry standard for addressing chronic homelessness — and the first Midwest nonprofit to own and operate single room occupancy housing.
Case management staff are prioritized for lived experience and trained in partnership with the Sinai Urban Health Institute.
During COVID-19, Mercy Housing Lakefront offered rent relief and, in many cases, rent forgiveness — keeping vulnerable residents housed during the worst economic and health crisis in a generation.
Flexible endowment funding is what makes that kind of immediate, unconditional response possible.
Homelessness in Chicago tripled in a single year, and a Wisconsin worker on minimum wage needs 128 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom apartment. Mercy Housing Lakefront has met that scale with permanent supportive housing, master leases, and emergency response that doesn’t wait for approval. Here’s what a permanent endowment protects.
Case management is available at most Mercy Housing Lakefront properties today, but not all. The endowment closes that gap — helping expand so that every resident, in every community, has someone who knows their name and their life circumstances.
Master leasing gives people with past evictions, poor credit, or behavioral health histories a route to stable housing the open market won’t offer. The endowment funds the next barrier worth removing.
When COVID-19 threatened to displace residents, Mercy Housing Lakefront offered rent relief and, in many cases, rent forgiveness — made possible by funding that didn’t need a lengthy approval process. The endowment makes that kind of immediate compassion permanent.
The Mercy Builds endowment
The Mercy Builds endowment is built gift by gift — each one a permanent part of the foundation. Arrange a conversation with the philanthropy team to find your role.
