A plan to reimburse the nonprofit group Lula for its costs to house unsheltered individuals at a local motel took an unexpected turn Tuesday night when Peoria Mayor Rita Ali proposed increasing the amount eight-fold.
“Just reimbursing for that first 10 days, to me, is not enough. I'm hoping that we can extend the support to reimburse Lula through the end of February, and then see where we stand,” said Ali, pointing out the city dedicated about $680,000 of American Rescue Plan Act [ARPA] funds in its 2025 budget to address homelessness.
“We have the funding to do more, and if we can extend that reimbursement not to exceed $80,000. I think it would allow individuals to be safe and secure for a lot longer.”
The original ordinance proposed on the Peoria City Council agenda at the request of council member Tim Riggenbach called for a $10,000 reimbursement. The council unanimously, with two absences, approved Ali’s amended measure.
The increase evoked an emotional response from Lula co-founder Kshe Bernard during public comments.
“Tonight, I've gotten so many messages from our friends at the motel that were listening, and they were all so scared they were going to have to go back outside. So, we are all so grateful from the bottom of our hearts,” said Bernard, adding their transitional pop-up shelter has housed 61 residents.
In a separate but related action, the council approved awarding Dream Center Peoria a $105,000 grant to cover the nonprofit’s expenses to expand its shelter capacity for at least two months. The moves help address increased need for shelter beds as the city enforces its ban on unauthorized public camping that was passed in November.
Riggenbach wholeheartedly backed Ali’s move to increase Lula’s reimbursement amount.
“The reason I can support this amended motion is because now we see, after 10 days, how it actually operates and what the costs are, and how this non-congregant setting has actually been beneficial,” said Riggenbach. “Not only for the residents, clearly, who are able to be [in] the shelter, but it also helps those providing the medical care and the street medicine teams, having the population in one place and not having to literally look for them.”
Council member John Kelly said he supported the original $10,000 reimbursement. He initially balked at the increased amount, but reversed his opposition after further council discussion made it clear the amended motion would pass.
“If at the end of February we're still in the same place we are now, I think we should all have a hard time looking in the mirror,” said Kelly.
Zach Oyler, one of the proponents of the ban on encampments, said the council’s actions serve as steps toward solutions to the homelessness issue.
“While we didn't discuss a longer term, larger amount of money plan prior to coming into this meeting, I support it because I think that that is actually what needs to be done,” said Oyler. “When we made these decisions last year, I expected the fact that this was going to cost money, but we needed to know how much money that was, and with the generalities that have been thrown out there for a long time, you couldn't get to what that amount of money is. Now, I think that we are on a path to actually get to that.”
Bernard acknowledged the motel pop-up shelter is merely a temporary “Band-Aid” for a critical issue, but progress is being made.
“There is nobody left in a camp as of right now," she said. "We have brought people in, not only from the visible tents that everybody was so concerned about, but we brought people in from caves they dug themselves, from drain pipes down by the river, from business doorways, from alleyways, from dumpsters and from uninhabitable buildings.”
“These are our most vulnerable citizens, and I know that you are worried about how we're helping them. Myself, along with every other service provider, try to steer them in directions that are good for them.”