The Peoria City Council considers reimbursing a local nonprofit for their efforts to assist the homeless next Tuesday.
Homeless outreach organization LULA helped facilitate hotel rooms for some of the people living in Peoria encampments during bitterly cold weather. This week, the small parcel of land downtown next to the Interstate 74 ramp once filled with tents is nearly bare.
“The city just isn’t in a position that we’re able to negotiate things like that with hotels for liability purposes, for staffing purposes,” said council member Tim Riggenbach. “So it seemed logical, if LULA is stepping up and filling this void, filling the need that we all acknowledge we have, it would make sense for us to use some of our money to reimburse them for that.”
Riggenbach introduced an ordinance, crafted with Mayor Rita Ali, City Manager Patrick Urich and Community Development Director Joe Dulin, which would grant LULA up to $10,000 for their efforts.
The funding comes from American Rescue Plan Dollars. Though those funds had to be committed by Dec. 31, 2024, these specifically come from a larger $800,000 pool of combined funding sources earmarked by the city for homelessness.
Riggenbach says the funding is meant to cover the cost of a roughly ten day period, as LULA helped find shelter and provide supplies like coats, gloves, water and granola bars.
“I think it’s important to realize that this is not a solution,” said Riggenbach. “This is not the long-term solution to the issue, but this is definitely a Band-Aid as we work towards longer term remedies, if you will.”
When it comes to long-term remedies, Riggenbach says he is hopeful that the collaboration between nonprofits and the city while preparing for the enforcement of a public camping ban passed in November is a positive sign for the future.
Community Development Director Joe Dulin says, due to the inclement weather, enforcement of the ban has been pushed back at least into the week of Jan. 13. The department previously extended the timeline to start enforcing the ordinance past the holiday season.
Dulin previously told WCBU his office is working with organizations like LULA and Home for All Continuum of Care to find more permanent housing solutions for as many of the encampments’ members as possible, before enforcement makes fines and jail time a possibility.
“We are doing our own outreach efforts to strongly suggest to our unsheltered population that they go to one of our area shelters if they do not have a housing alternative,” Dulin wrote in a statement to WCBU last week.
