On any given night there are over 2,000 women experiencing homelessness in Chicago. Many of these women face extreme challenges, including unsafe sleeping conditions, limited food and water, inadequate access to sanitary bathroom and shower facilities, violence, and insufficient medical care. Sarah’s Circle exists to provide gender-sensitive and trauma-informed services to end this crisis, and to create a safe and secure home for each of these women.  

Founded in 1979 during a time when women’s homelessness was not the recognized issue it is today, three concerned women rented an apartment and opened a safe space for women in Chicago who were in need. To accommodate the growing necessity to address homelessness for women in the community, the agency has expanded significantly over the years. 

Today, Sarah's Circle operates: 

These programs and resources provide a full continuum of services that help women permanently end their homelessness. In 2023, Sarah’s Circle not only assisted over 694 women in need, but also helped 140 of those women become safely and permanently housed.  

Sarah’s Circle believes that the problem of homelessness is solvable, and the organization utilizes the Housing First model1. That is, when a woman has the stability of a safe and secure home that she can call her own, she can then work toward addressing, and permanently ending, her homelessness. When she has a bed to sleep in at night, warm meals to eat, and a sense of community, she can direct her attention toward seeking medical care, overcoming trauma and/or addiction, and finding employment. Sarah’s Circle supports women every step of the way toward ending their homelessness by offering case management, services that meet basic needs, and educational and general-interest programming.  

The need for these services is great. There is a notable shortage of affordable housing across the city of Chicago and the nation. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Illinois lacks 293,354 rental homes that are affordable and available for extremely low-income renters2. And in its 2023 report, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless estimates 68,440 people are experiencing homelessness in the city, and that single, unaccompanied women are among the most vulnerable3.

To keep up with this ever-growing need in Chicago, Sarah's Circle continues to expand its facilities. Last spring, the organization broke ground on its third building, Sarah’s on Lakeside. Set to be completed in fall of 2024, this building will have twenty-eight fully furnished studio apartments that will serve as Permanent Supportive Housing units for women experiencing homelessness. It will also house additional program space, a demonstration kitchen, and administrative offices. When it is completed, Sarah’s Circle will have a total of 141 apartments, which will allow them to provide safe and permanent housing for this number of women at any given time.  

 

There are many ways to get involved with Sarah’s Circle. You can:

To learn more about the services Sarah’s Circle provides and how you can get involved, please visit their website, https://sarahs-circle.org; call 773-728-1014; and follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. 

Kathryn Caputo is a Development Associate at Sarah's Circle and a graduate student at Loyola University Chicago. She is passionate about increasing community engagement and awareness around social issues such as homelessness through advocacy and storytelling.

1 “Housing First,” Resources Overview, National Alliance to End Homelessness, updated August 2022, https://endhomelessness.org/resource/housing-first/.

2 “Housing Needs by State/Illinois,” National Low Income Housing Coalition, accessed February 14, 2024, https://nlihc.org/housing-needs-by-state/illinois.

3 “Estimate of People Experiencing Homelessness in Chicago 2023 Report,” Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, accessed February 14, 2024, https://www.chicagohomeless.org/estimate/.