LINCOLN SQUARE — The former Diplomat Motel on Lincoln Avenue has been converted into innovative transitional housing.
After the city acquired the 5230 N. Lincoln Ave. property in 2024, officials spent $14 million renovating it into the 37-room Haven On Lincoln. It’ll now serve as “bridge housing” for Chicagoans experiencing homelessness and untreated physical and behavioral health conditions.
The Haven will also offer trauma-informed health and social services provided by nonprofit Cornerstone Community Outreach.
Perhaps most importantly, the facility offers private rooms for residents, as opposed to congregate housing where residents share rooms, officials said.
“Residents will have access to primary healthcare, intensive case management and behavioral health support,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said at a Thursday ribbon-cutting ceremony for the facility. “By addressing these needs head-on and ensuring that the people that come through the Haven have access to tools, resources and opportunities, we are creating a more effective pathway from homelessness to permanent housing.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks at the May 7, 2026 ribbon cutting for the Haven On Lincoln. Credit: Alex V. Hernandez/Block Club Chicago
Sen. Dick Durbin, who has spent the past few weeks traveling across the state, told Block Club that people have repeatedly told him there is a need for better housing options.
“Over and over again, the issue is housing. Housing for workers, housing for students and housing for people with special needs,” Durbin said.
Mayor Brandon Johnson (center left), Cornerstone Executive Director Andrew Winter (center) and Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) (right) were joined by other city officials for the May 7, 2026 ribbon cutting of the Haven On Lincoln. Credit: Alex V. Hernandez/Block Club Chicago
The conversion of the Diplomat Motel into “classy living arrangements” with support services is an inspiration, Durbin said.
“Congregate housing is a necessity, in extreme situations. But if each of us is given a choice, do you want privacy? Of course I do,” Durbin said. “So this gives privacy to the individual, and that means respect. I think that’s why this is going to be successful.”
Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) advocated for the initiative with city officials and neighbors. He also helped get the renovation funded via the now-expired Lincoln Avenue TIF.
Chicagoans experiencing homelessness are still neighbors, and it’s their humanity that developments like the Haven support, Vasquez said.
“This challenge continues to affect so many in our city,” Vasquez said. “I believe it is a responsibility of municipal government to not only provide shelter and resources, but to support people on a journey with the same dignity each of us would want if we found ourselves in similar circumstances.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (left) chats with Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) (right) and Chicago Housing Commissioner Lissette Castañeda (center) at the May 7, 2026 ribbon cutting at the Haven On Lincoln. Credit: Alex V. Hernandez/Block Club Chicago
The non-congregate shelter model at the Haven builds upon the success of a COVID-19-era program to slow the spread of the virus by addressing homelessness, officials previously said.
That pilot program showed that 60 percent of residents end up moving into permanent housing or residential treatment programs, and 62 percent of residents reported that their mental health improved during their stay, according to Vasquez’s office.
Following the success of the program, the city’s health and housing departments partnered with the 40th Ward to establish a permanent non-congregate shelter, which evolved into the Haven, Vasquez said.
“We see this as the best-in-class version of what this kind of transitional housing or shelter can be. Each person will be getting their own kind of hotel room-style space,” Cornerstone Executive Director Andrew Winter said ahead of the ribbon-cutting.
The newly renovated rooms at the Haven are designed around a philosophy of “dignified privacy,” Winter said. Each features a full bathroom, a full-sized bed and TV.
“Having operated shelters in Chicago for over three decades, this is a whole new style. And we’re grateful for it,” Winter said.
The interior of one of the Haven On Lincoln’s room faces the courtyard. Credit: Alex V. Hernandez/Block Club Chicago
Architectural firm Gensler relied on trauma-informed design for their renovation of the Diplomat into the Haven, architect Sean McGuire said.
“It reduces uncertainty and supports control, choice and safety. And it’s really about treating residents here with the full dignity and agency they deserve,” McGuire said. “A big component about trauma-informed design is making sure that the finishes, the overall experience of the space, is not institutional.”
Features like allowing residents to have control of the lighting in their room offers people agency they might not otherwise have at another facility, McGuire said.
“Everyone has the dignity of their own door that they can open and their own lights. They control the agency behind having their own space and their own restroom,” McGuire said.
The Diplomat Motel’s parking lot was converted to a private garden for the residents of the Haven On Lincoln. Credit: Alex V. Hernandez/Block Club Chicago
The former motel’s parking lot has been transformed into a communal courtyard with raised garden beds, flexible furniture arrangements and shaded pergolas as well as a communal kitchen area that can also host events.
The overall goal is to give residents support on their way to permanent housing while avoiding re-traumatization, Winter said.
“We see a lot of individuals who are in this current traumatic experience, but they’ve had other trauma that has impacted them and possibly led to why they’re experiencing homelessness right now,” Winter said. “And in a congregate setting, you can’t get away from anyone, right?”
Unhoused Chicagoans have set up encampments along the North Branch of the Chicago River and North Shore Channel in recent years. Tents and yurts at Gompers Park, Eugene Field and Legion Park have been destroyed and removed by city workers due in part to worries about fires that have engulfed some of the communities.
As the encampments continue, the city’s Department of Family and Support Services has been working to connect their residents with affordable housing, officials have said.
Tents sit on in the Gompers Park encampment in Mayfair on Monday, April 20, 2026. Credit: Jeremy Battle/Block Club Chicago
The hope is for people living in encampments who might not feel comfortable living in congregate settings to take advantage of the kind of transitional housing the Haven can offer, Winter said.
“Privacy creates a reduction in sustained stress, because you can close the door and exhale. It allows you to kind of process what you’ve been going through in the day,” Winter said. “And it allows you to also have more private sessions with behavioral health and other telehealth experiences, which something we’re really integrating into what we’re doing.”
Other shelter options can be much further away from where many of the encampments are, making them less desirable for people who call Lincoln Square and nearby neighborhoods home, Winters said.
The bathroom of one of the room at the Haven On Lincoln. Credit: Alex V. Hernandez/Block Club Chicago
“Housing is a human right, and the people that we’re providing services for are our neighbors,” Winters said. “Ending homelessness is our goal, and we can do that helping each person end their cycle of homelessness. That takes creating community, support networks and a place where people can reclaim their future, which is what the Haven On Lincoln really is.”
The city acquired the Lincoln Avenue property in 2024 year for $2.9 million. The City Council agreed to set aside $5.5 million from the now-expired Lincoln Avenue TIF last year to renovate the Haven.
The city’s Department of Housing also leveraged $8.42 million in Chicago Recovery Plan bond funds and a $103,660 grant from the Department of Public Health to finance the construction.
The Haven’s inaugural residents will move in this summer, Chicago Family & Support Services Commissioner Angela Green said.
“Until those doors open officially, we want to ensure that every resident knows that they’re not alone. Anyone who needs shelter, support or resources, please continue to call 311 where you could be connected to available services and assistance,” Green said.
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