Central Illinois Homeless Advocates Share Different Approaches to Recent Shelter Projects

Reposted from WGLT

By Michele Steinbacher

Homeless advocates from Bloomington and Lincoln took opposite approaches to finding success with recent shelter projects, as they discussed during the Women to Women Spring Forum on Tuesday at Bloomington Public Library.

One group developed an idea but lacked a location, while the other project originated with a gifted building in need of a plan.

Now, The Bridge in Bloomington provides housing to about 50 residents, plus a variety of services. Meanwhile, in a former nursing home in Lincoln, Hope on 5th is thriving with 15 residents, and services.

The Bridge

Matt Burgess, who leads Home Sweet Home Ministries [HSM] in Bloomington, told those attending the program in the library’s community room about how The Bridge — the nonprofit’s non-congregate shelter village on Oakland Avenue — came into being.

After HSHM and community partners drafted a plan for the village and capital and operational budgets, funding was secured from McLean County’s mental health and public safety fund and private donors.

“Then we ran into the road block of ‘Where are we going to do this?’ ” said Burgess, noting the process wasn’t easy. “I struck out so many times finding a place to do this,” adding it took organizers 18 months to land on the Oakland Avenue site — the 12^th location considered.

Maybe sites were determined to be in the wrong part of town from service access, or were too residential, or too close to downtown, he said. Plus, the “not in my backyard [NIMBY]” mentality created other obstacles, he said.

Overall, now that the project is in place, it’s found overwhelming community support, but it’s a work in progress, he said: “Three months into operating, we’re learning things every day.”

The Bridge is the first of its kind in Illinois, said Burgess, adding community leaders from Pekin, Champaign-Urbana and Waukegan have come to Bloomington to learn about it, and noting Elgin leaders are visiting soon.

After National Public Radio’s Morning Edition aired a WGLT segment about The Bridge, advocates from Maine to California also have been reaching out to Burgess to learn about the project’s success.

“It’s drawing people who want to learn from us,” he said.

Hope on 5^th in Lincoln offers housing and services

Kim Turner, who heads the board for Hope on 5^th in Lincoln, shared a very different origin story for that crisis housing solution. The center in the heart of Lincoln’s business district, sits in a former nursing home.

“We had the opportunity to have a building donated, but we didn’t have a plan,” she said.

As chief probation officer for Logan County, Turner had crossed paths with others in the community working to provide housing and social services to some residents, such as through treatment court. One of those advocates was Joe Schaler, a longtime veterans’ support specialist. His focus was trying to find closer-to-home housing solutions for homeless vets who hailed from Lincoln.

Turner, Schaler and others were generally exploring ways to improve outcomes when a now-or-never moment arrived in 2022 when Lincoln College permanently closed.

College leaders approached Schaler, knowing he’d been searching for solution to local vets housing crises. The college had converted a former nursing home into a college dorm, though it hadn’t been used for student housing yet.

“We were put on the spot of ‘you guys need to take this now or we’re going to have to make other decisions,’ ” she said. The Central Illinois Veterans Commission took hold of the building until the Hope on 5^th organization could be formally created as a nonprofit. That’s when Turner found herself as chair of the board for Hope on 5^th/Regional Housing and Supportive Service Center.

Logan County provided start-up money and “we developed a housing coalition to come up with a plan for how we were going to make it work,” she said. They even sought out Burgess to get advice after watching him lead HSHM Bridge project.

In the end, Logan County social service advocates decided it was best to pool resources.

“It was a large building and we’re a smaller community,” so organizers decided it made sense to make it multi-purpose and serve more people who needed help in the community, said Turner.

“People stepped up because they knew about the problem,” she said, noting many agencies’ clients were going to Bloomington, Springfield or Peoria for services.

One of the center’s board members is a retired judge and he opened a legal aid office in the Hope on 5^th building. It serves clients using the building, but also all Lincoln residents. Among a variety of services beyond that, the Springfield Veterans Center comes to provide onsite counseling, and Heartland Community College has a computer lab onsite and provided some classes to residents.

Hope on 5^th took possession of the building in January 2024 and completed some HVAC and plumbing projects thanks to grant funding. Six months later, the first resident moved in. Lincoln College had dorm furnishings and linens already in the rooms, so they were ready to be occupied.

The need is great, said Turner, but the nonprofit has capped its current residency at about 20 until the program is further developed.

“We’ve had a waiting list the whole time,” she said.

Women to Women

Women to Women is a philanthropic group focused on issues affecting women and children. Since its founding about 15 years ago, it has awarded more than $650,000 in grants to groups in McLean, DeWitt, Livingston and Logan counties. It operates as part of the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation.

This year, eight nonprofits shared $66,000 in Women to Women grants. They include Regional Housing and Supportive Service’s Hope on 5^th that received a $15,000 grant to help further its development. Separately, the IPCF granted Home Sweet Home Ministries a $5,000 environment and nature award for landscaping at The Bridge property.