Interfaith Action of Evanston provides emergency shelter for 30 homeless adults per night from October through May — but according to Executive Director Susan Murphy, that is still not enough.

While shelter is most vital during the colder months, Murphy said that she hopes to expand to a year-round program.

Since space is limited, this is not a simple feat, Murphy added. Nine local faith communities — including Lake Street Church, First United Methodist Church and more — are currently providing Interfaith with shelter space. Still, the waitlist consistently has about 40 names on it. 

“There’s never enough,” Murphy said. “Luckily, many people who are homeless get homes, get jobs and move on, but then there’s one more person to step into that (spot).”

To bring the year-round program into reality, Interfaith is partnering with Lake Street Church and Connections for the Homeless, according to Interfaith’s Board President Melissa Appelt. They are currently renovating Lake Street Church to provide more cots. Connections is “very good” at securing funding, Appelt said, with the organization purchasing the Margarita Inn, a former hotel, at the end of 2023 to turn it into a permanent shelter.

“Connections is really excellent,” Appelt said. “They have worked with the city closely to secure funding for a year-round shelter from the state of Illinois, and there will probably need to be some more funding secured in order to renovate the Lake Street Church. All of that is kind of in the works.”

Appelt said she expects to see something “groundbreaking” with the Lake Street Church renovations within the next two years.

Everyone Interfaith serves has to do an intake with Connections, since Interfaith does not have its own caseworkers, according to Shawn Iles, Interfaith’s overnight shelter director. Iles said working with these caseworkers helps him decide the order in which people are removed from the organization’s shelter waitlist.

“I work really closely with the caseworkers to try and — if there’s any participants that I don’t know, that I haven’t met at the hospitality center — determine who’s the most vulnerable,” he said.

Compared to Connections, Interfaith is a small organization. With Murphy being the only full-time employee, the organization benefits from help from the local community. 

In addition to its emergency overnight shelters, the organization offers a hospitality center, soup kitchens and a weekend warming center. It also distributes free produce in partnership with the Greater Chicago Food Depository’s Producemobile. To manage all of these services, Interfaith’s seasonal staff and hundreds of volunteers are crucial.

“We develop relationships with people,” Appelt said. “And I think that’s really important for the overall community and for understanding what needs to happen in order for people to be well-served.”

Murphy began working at Interfaith 27 years ago. The relationship she built there with the local unhoused population made her fall in love with the job, she said.

Throughout all of those years, Murphy said there’s “never enough” shelter for the homeless population. Still, the year-round overnight shelter program would help minimize this problem. 

“I had never had a conversation with a person who was experiencing homelessness,” she said. “And then I sat down and talked with them and realized that they were not that different than me, that they were just all people.”

Email: [email protected] 

Related Stories: 

— Evanston faith communities provide housing for migrants

— Despite frigid temperatures, community members fundraise in annual Walk for Warmth

— Where to finding warming centers, shelters in Evanston during frigid temperatures