A proposed 48-unit apartment complex at the site of the former Harrison School on Peoria’s South Side would assist families transitioning out of homelessness, but residents who live in the vicinity feel the location is not the right place for such a development.
First District Peoria City Council representative Denise Jackson has been the most vocal critic of the project presented by Phoenix Community Development Services.
“In my opinion, this whole proposal of putting a housing complex for homeless people in a severely economically depressed neighborhood that has gotten national distinction of being poverty stricken is a recipe for disaster,” Jackson said during Thursday’s two-hour meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission.
“You’re putting poor people on top of poor people. For the last few years, I have expressed concerns about public safety and infrastructure in and around that area, which has not been addressed.”
Noting the proposal satisfies the conditions and zoning requirements it’s allowed to consider, the commission voted unanimously in recommending the project. The development is now set to go before the city council at Tuesday’s meeting.
The plans for the Phoenix Manor permanent supportive housing complex at 2702 W. Krause Ave., across from the Annie Jo Gordon Community Learning Center, call for 18 three-bedroom residences, 20 two-bedroom apartments, and 10 one-bedroom units.
Tenants would be selected from the region’s centralized wait list of unhoused families and individuals. That list currently consists of 51 families, totaling 103 people.
“What we do know is that there is a substantial unmet need, that our community has not kept pace in providing dedicated units to serve our homeless families,” said Christine Kahl, CEO of Phoenix Community Development Services.
“In our region right now, we are down to only 22 dedicated apartments for homeless families in Peoria. That’s significant, that as our numbers continue to go up around the families that are experiencing homelessness, we’re losing units instead of gaining units to meet that unmet need.”
OSF HealthCare is joining Phoenix Community Development as a partner in the project, with plans to operate a clinic within the complex.
Peoria Mayor Rita Ali is among the proponents of the Phoenix Manor project, saying she believes it will help efforts to boost the South Side.
“We’re looking at a new development that will provide permanent housing for people that have been unhoused or homeless,” Ali told WCBU in an interview prior to Thursday’s meeting. “I definitely want to move forward with this.”
South Side resident Linda Wilson, who lives three blocks from the site of the proposed development, was among several residents raising concerns over locating supportive housing in an impoverished neighborhood.
“We’ve got vulnerable people that would be living here in this development that would need to shop for food, would need adequate transportation,” said Wilson. “This is, in my opinion, the new idea of ‘redlining’ — all of the low- to no-income folks have to be pushed in a certain area of the city, and look at how that turned out for years and years.”
Pastor Irene Lewis-Wimbley from the Southside Community Center spoke passionately in support of the Phoenix Manor proposal.
“The families are not standing on the corners; they’re sleeping in their cars. Or there’s four families in one house, that one family per room in a four-room house,” she said. “Those are the families who need these apartments. These are the people who need a hand up. They need help, not judgment.”
