Cook County Invests Nearly $20 Million in Funding to Protect Food and Housing Stability as Trump Administration Cuts Safety-Net Programs

Wed, 03/11/2026 - 12:00

COOK COUNTY, IL – At a time when the federal government is retreating from critical safety-net programs, Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle and the Board of Commissioners took a crucial step today to invest $19.9 million to strengthen food access and housing stability across the County. The investment will support the Greater Chicago Food Depository (the Food Depository), the Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County (the Alliance), and the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) – three organizations providing essential services to residents.

The funds prioritize resident stability in keeping with the County’s Policy Roadmap goals of inclusive economic and community growth. This crucial investment includes:

$10 million to the Food Depository to ensure Cook County residents have access to sufficient, fresh food;
$5.8 million to IHDA, to support its Court-Based Rental Assistance program; and
$4.1 million to support homeless services, including $3.4 million to the Alliance and $700,000 to emergency shelter partners.

“Across the country we are seeing the federal government step back from the very programs families rely on to stay housed and put food on the table,” said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. “When Washington pulls back from supporting working families, local governments must step forward. This investment reflects Cook County’s commitment to strengthening our social safety net and ensuring residents have the stability they need to live, work and thrive.”

The $3.4 million in funding to the Alliance will establish a Problem-Solving Fund (PSF) that provides flexible assistance and staffing to quickly resolve housing crises and prevent homelessness. Solutions include:

Homelessness prevention resources for those in danger of losing housing within weeks;
Shelter diversion services to identify immediate alternative housing and connection to social services and funding to help retain or obtain housing;
Rapid resolution services to quickly resolve a housing crisis via personal networks and safety net services, including provision of limited funds for security deposits, application fees, up to three months’ rent and similar interventions; and
Emergency shelter and other essential homeless services.

Additionally, $700,000 will support Cook County’s hotel shelter program partnerships with BEDS Plus, Respond Now, Journeys, South Suburban PADS and Housing Forward to help sustain those programs through an expected funding gap in late 2026.

“Through President Preckwinkle’s unflinching leadership, Cook County stayed in lock step with our community’s homeless system as we transformed shelters to keep people healthy and safe during the COVID pandemic and beyond,” said Jennifer Hill, executive director, The Alliance. “Our shared goal is to show how stable housing ends homelessness. As the federal government threatens to dismantle decades of progress on housing programs for people experiencing homelessness, we look to Cook County to protect our social safety net programs, and these investments do just that.”

Over the past five years, the County has closely collaborated with the Food Depository, which serves Chicago and suburban Cook County through a network of more than 800 partners. The County also works with the Food Depository through the Capacity-Building Investments in Food Access Sites program. This program, one of Cook County’s Critical Social Service initiatives, provides food assistance to residents and supports the operations of local food distribution sites.

Federal cuts of nearly $200 billion to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s largest anti-hunger program, will have wide-ranging local impacts. Currently one in five Cook County households are food insecure. Because of new SNAP work reporting requirements that took effect earlier this year, between 100,000 and 200,000 additional Cook County residents may seek food access assistance from the Food Depository and its partner network in 2026. Previous funding assistance from Cook County has helped expand food bank capacity by supporting the purchase of refrigerated vans and completing improvements including increased refrigeration equipment, storage, distribution equipment and more.

“The Greater Chicago Food Depository is grateful to Cook County leadership for prioritizing a community-wide response to hunger,” said Jill Rahman, Chief Operating Officer at the Food Depository. “More than 1.4 million people across Cook County are challenged to put food on their tables. We expect the need to grow in the year ahead as the cost of living remains high and the federal safety net is slashed. This investment from Cook County will ensure more food is available for our neighbors when they need it, while also increasing capacity in the emergency food system for years to come.”

The investment also includes $5.8 million for IHDA’s Court-Based Rental Assistance Program (CBRAP) which will help bridge an anticipated gap in state funding and ensure continued availability of emergency rental assistance for Cook County residents facing eviction.

Since July 31, 2025, thousands of County residents have received over $21 million in rental assistance through the program, which is a critical resource for Cook County Legal Aid for Housing and Debt (CCLAHD) eviction clients. Housing providers accepting back rent through the program must move to have those cases dismissed.

“CBRAP is more than a financial bridge, it provides a sense of dignity and stability for families facing sudden hardship,” said IHDA Executive Director Kristin Faust. “By keeping residents in their homes, we allow them to focus on growth rather than the trauma of displacement. We are deeply grateful to President Preckwinkle and the Cook County Board for their $5.8 million commitment, a vital investment that extends this safety net to hundreds of additional households in crisis.”

The investments are funded by a portion of the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) surplus declared by the City of Chicago in December 2025. The allocation of TIF funds was part of Cook County’s fiscal year 2026 budget, passed in November 2025.