KarunaNews Story

As homelessness in Chicago has surged in recent years, the nonprofit Digs With Dignity is showing how pairing affordable housing with additional support can help break the cycle of homelessness. Co-founder and executive director Kim Hannay and two others started Digs six years ago by collecting furniture and home goods from the community and then using them to design and furnish spaces for families transitioning out of homelessness. ‘We’re one piece of the puzzle for families to be able to find the stability that they need and get back on their feet.” They have served 240 families and kept 265,000 pounds of furniture and waste out of landfills and are disrupting the typical recidivism rate of 45-50% “so that 95% of our clients are safely, comfortably, stably housed after receiving our services.” Getting furniture donated has never been a huge issue but getting the funding to do the work, pay warehouse rent, keep up with maintenance and gas for the moving truck, and pay the staff of nine has always been their biggest hurdle. “We start with a completely empty slate. We clean everything, and by the time [we] leave, beds are made, the kitchen is fully stocked and set up, art is on the walls, and everything is ready to be lived in.”