Affordable housing — defined as a residence where the income of an individual or a family is no more than 30% of the cost of rent or a mortgage — is what people like Betty Bogg, the CEO of Connections for the Homeless, see as a way to eliminate homelessness. Though it may not be possible for eve ryone to reach Bogg’s ideal station in life at once, she said functional zero homelessness is achieved when a person forced out of their home for any reason finds an immediate bed in a shelter and has their own residence within 30 days. “We have to move toward functional zero homelessness, and we’re not doing enough now to find the right solution to mitigate the situation,” she said. “People need to get energized, activated and come forward.” Bogg and her organization are now on a mission to start a grassroots campaign to make functional zero homelessness a reality in Lake County. The Committee for the Homeless held a Keys to Home event Saturday at the College of Lake County’s Lakeshore Campus in Waukegan, bringing together 52 people from around the county to localize plans to provide enough affordable housing to achieve functional zero. While Illinois has laws about affordable housing and some municipalities have ordinances to help create homes that people who work in the town can afford, Bogg said ending homelessness and providing affordable housing are complementary. Connections for the Homeless CEO Betty Bogg talks to the participants at the organization’s Keys to Home event Saturday in Waukegan. (Steve Sadin/For the Lake County News-Sun) “Affordable housing is not adjacent to this issue,” she said. “It is not a side conversation. Affordable housing is the solution. The answer to homelessness is housing.” With nearly half the people renting homes or apartments in Lake County spending more than 30% of their income to pay the landlord, Bogg said they are “one car repair, one medical bill, one missed paycheck away” from homelessness. “Behind that number are real people,” she said. “People like the single mother who is juggling two jobs as a home health aide and clerk at a big box store are coming up short every month. She sleeps in her car and arranges for her kids to stay with friends so they can keep going to school.” With communities in Lake County like Gurnee approving affordable housing projects like the village Board of Trustees did for Liberty Point late last year, Bogg said activists in the village came to public meetings and advocated for the project. People from around Lakre County came to the Keys for Homeless event to help organize community members to combat homelessness with affordable housing. (Steve Sadin/For the Lake County News-Sun) Designed for people like veterans, families and working people, Bogg said the trustees listened to people from the community who came to meetings and voiced their support for the project. She hopes to see the 52 people who came on Saturday do the same thing in their municipality. “That did not happen by accident,” Bogg said. “It happened because people showed up, asked hard questions, told their elected officials what mattered to them, and chose solutions over fear.” Liz Nelson, Connections for the Homeless’ assistant director of advocacy for Lake County, said there are currently advocacy teams active in Libertyville and Gurnee. She is also working with people in Waukegan to start one. Nelson said those who came to the event represented 25 municipalities from all parts of the county. After listening to Bogg and keynote speaker Jawanza Malone, the executive director of the Wieboldt Foundation, they chose one of five breakout sessions on a variety of topics. When the participants finished their breakout sessions, which included different subjects like planning, local housing problems, inclusionary housing and more, Nelson said they came together sitting with people from the same town or area to discuss potential organizing efforts. “We want to develop community-based leaders,” Bogg said. “We want people to get energized and advocate.” State Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, who was at the event, said she considers affordable housing a right. ...read more read less