Covenant Living Communities and Services will assume full management of Covenant Home of Chicago in October, it was announced this week.
Although owned by Covenant Living, it has been operated by Chicago Methodist Senior Services (CMSS) since 2005. The transition will take place on October 1.
“Covenant Living had entered into the management agreement because CMSS was operating several other assisted-living homes in the area,” said Terri Cunliffe, president and CEO of Covenant Living.
Cunliffe said that re-assuming management will make it easier to connect Covenant Home with Covenant Living technology and programs. It also will be a stronger connection with the past.
“It’s a rich part of our history,” Cunliffe said. “It’s where we started.”
The home was started in 1886, one year after the Covenant’s founding, as the Home of Mercy for people who were poor and needy. It was referred to at the time as a “monument of love.”
The home carries a special Illinois supportive-living license that enables low-income residents to receive government housing assistance while living in a home that also has private-pay residents. “It’s a very special license,” Cunliffe said. There is about a 50-50 split in the number of residents receiving assistance and those who are private-pay, she added.
The senior living and healthcare provider is a ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church. Its 3,500 employees serve 5,500 residents at 17 communities in nine states. It is the nation’s eighth-largest nonprofit senior services provider and regularly is honored with awards of excellence.
