Homelessness is not just a winter issue.

What's being done now for the unsheltered?

And a major upgrade in your airport experience in The Cities.

[lively music] [music ends] It's been a problem in search of a solution, but oftentimes it's a temporary bandage that's given to the homeless problem in the cities.

It came to the forefront before last winter because there was no adequate overflow shelte for the harshest of winter days.

But what about scorching summer days?

It's not like the problem remedies itself when the mercury rises and the thermometer.

We talked with Project Now Executive Director Reverend Dwight Ford about the ongoing need to meet the needs of the unsheltered.

Are we looking at the issue o homelessness in the Quad Cities as more of a coordinated effort than we did before?

Without question.

I think the challenges today have pressed us to a point where the collaboration had always been existent, and now we're talking abou coordination of those efforts.

It always seemed somewhat fragmented.

Everyone seemed to go their own way and try to tackle the problem as they best see it.

Well, I think that was one of the challenges that we have being a bi-state multi-municipality region.

And so at some point, lawmakers, those that are situated in particular cities do think about their own municipalities.

But now we've come to a point to realize that the region has to be centered now, and there's no way to get around that.

If we're going to solve this, if we're going to do something different than what we've always done, and that means we hav to elevate a level of thinking.

As Doctor King would say, we're wasting integrating human lives, clinging on to old ways of thinking.

We're going to have to discard old ways of thinking and move forward with something new.

And that's what I was wondering.

I mean, what is the bold next step?

Well, you know, most of us, have been in relationship and talking with each other.

And of course, over a few days we had a chance to work with Clutch Consulting and kind of think out loud.

It was nice to see the municipalities, every municipality was represented, to have, the service providers there, the funders there, and to really talk out loud of what this meant, to step back for a moment and to be able to take a big step forward requires tha we not only think differently, but we also work differently with each other.

And I think this is where we are.

And I know that the pressur has pushed us toward each other not from each other.

And I think that's what I wanted to get at.

When you say that the pressure has pushed us forward.

We're looking bac to just before the winter time, where, Rock Island had made legislative changes that really impacted, the homeless community.

And then you have really a brutal winter and no real overflow shelter, taking emergency steps.

That's right.

Taking over the Kone building.

Im, Im, I'm dating myself by saying that... Sure.

...which were all temporary Band-Aids.

But is it something that, like you said, pressure.

But was that, like, hitting rock bottom in order to reach up?

Well, one thing's for sure.

The egg has cracked, and it can never go on to be what it once was.

And so with the rise, the 44% increase in the geographical area, with more and more people being displaced, we learned in our data drop when Clutch was with us, 80% of the people experiencing homelessness in the Q are essentially new experiences.

And so, 20% are kind of like a, long term journeyers that we're working with that have some deeper complications But we have so many people being emptied out into this realit for the first time.

And if we... And I think that's really important for people to know.

...yes absolutely.

Is that you sit there and you think, oh, the homeless are homeless by choice, either due to, you know, financial situations, or due to mental issues.

And they're just not they're no they are unhoused for a reason.

So 40%, at least of our data for the winter overflow shelter, almost 40%, are survivors of sex trafficking, sexual violence and domestic violence.

Then you take in the reality about 40% during the winter, and there's reasons for that.

Normally the number experiencing mental health, doesn' allow mental health challenges, that doesn't allow them to be functional and stay housed.

Normally that number is around 10 to 15%.

And in winter, we can see those numbers like we did this past season, as high as 40% on the street, because in the winter people don't have the capacity to be able to keep someone, even a loved one that has serious mental illness in the house.

And because they have family members in the summer, people can come and go a little bit more.

But in the winter, generally you're inside and when you're inside, the heightened level of mental illness and poor relationships that are probably hanging on by threads already.

And so that puts more people back on the stree that really need a safe place.

When you put all of this together, when you think about the rise of the challenges, the 80% does also come from people who can't afford.

It's not uncommo for us to see people spending 60 to 70% of their monthly income to try to stay housed.

You know, that's not sustainable.

I mean, you still have other bills.... Absolutely.

...I mean, that's a lot of times, health bills, which may go unmet, food bills that may go unmet.

And then you have the housing bills as well.

2 or 3 hard wind gusts, fou sneezes in a row and two coughs in that entire house of cards come crumbling down because it was not sustainable.

And then those individuals will be sleeping in SUVs.

Kind of like the one I drive.

And with the cell phone, like the one I carry and be actually living out of their car or vehicle.

Well, then you also have what' called, let me get this right, its surfing the kids that have to sleep couch surfing.

That's right.

The kids that are basically unhoused are just, you know.

So when you see our number grade point from 4 to 500, any given night in the Quad Cities, our point in time count, 400-500 people are unhoused.

That is not the truest count that is available to us.

It is the most accurate that we can do by putting feet on the street and doing a physical count.

Take that number between 400-500, even if it's a high number of 500 times it by three, you get closer to the amount of people in the region, that are unhoused.

And the number that you did point out, the 44% increase that's the increase in homeless in the Illinois Quad Cities, right from 2023 to 2024.

That's, you know, a year and a half, two years ago.

But you're saying it's not getting any better?

Well, you know, you think about Scott County, a county that we love and and value and appreciat for so many different reasons.

In the city of Davenport I mean, we led the state in Iowa in evictions.

And when people have that on their record it is hard for them to get into another place and some leave out of eviction with no place to go.

These numbers, we served, as you know, last year, 180 Unduplicated in a 12 week period of time.

And we were able and celebrated that to get 14 people housed that are still housed today.

This past year, this pas season, the same amount of time, 12 weeks, we served 302 unduplicated and we were able to house 86 individuals.

That's four times the amount that shows you, two things.

One is that the amount of people that are looking for immediate cover from the elements in a shelter during the winter season, has increased.

And that's something we got to deal with.

Two, but it also shows us that with a solid plan and an ecosystem created that allows a networ of different service providers, institutions and municipalities working together, every one of the municipalities have to partner with the winter overflow shelter.

That's low barrier.

And so with that kind of a relationship, we were able to move 8 people in 12 weeks into, secure housing, 50, rather 31 of them are families that are with our partners, Salvation Army.

They're in the housing program, so they're secure, and then they'll be moving into housing of their own.

The other ones, through us they have a turnkey operation.

They have their own key now going into their own place.

The oldest individua is 81 years old and the youngest two months.

And you bring up the Salvation Army, which I think is important.

So they used to have the shelters, bu then they changed their mission maybe ten years ag to do more of permanent housing rather than temporary housing.

So that left that big void.

Is that an area that is paramount as far as the cooperation between the communities right now, is to deal with that immediate problem?

The immediacy, the new models that we're working with allow us to go right from the street or the curb into housing, what normally would be the way station, kind of the center station, which would be the, shelter and shelters also have to increase capacity because when shelters have to release at seven, then it's hard to be able to case manage.

We created an ecosystem with existing partners, the Third Place and Christian Care, where they shower and eat in Third Place, of course, where theyre treated like human beings and restore their dignity and even our shared humanity once again.

But that space allows us to case manage.

And then you have, other partners that are here, Robert Young, that has been working with us every weekend, when we ran the shelter, to do mental healt evaluations to help get people back on their medications, adjust medications, or simply de-escalate, some of the challenges that they were having.

And those things are valuable to this work.

In a 12 week period of time, where we saw 302 individuals, to move that many people, 86 of them, into a housed reality or, or progra for that other small category.

That means that we had to do this with no less than 14 partners daily.

Daily.

This is how large this network is going to have to be to essentially keep peopl from falling through the cracks.

But that's unprecedented coordination.

Oh, yes.

Oh yes.

I mean, everything from Metro Link and being at the table, every one of the ones that come to us, if they were clocking in with us, they got a bus pass for the month that allowed them to have mor agency, of their, for their live That allowed us when we have case management, if there are other partners that they may have to be in conversation with, we did everything we possibly could.

Not to mention every morning at 7 a.m.

where we had to clear the shelter.

All of our residents boarded a city bus, that we contracted with to come to the day shelter.

So there wasn't these major gaps.

We learned a lot from the previous year, and the data shows it.

When you learn from th practical experience of being in the moment, being with people, you can see it differently.

And then when the season is like what it is now, we step back up on the balcony, because we were on the dance floor, but you got to get into the balcony where you can overlook the reality.

And that's what we're doing now, because the winter is only one reality.

Everybody's concerned about those experiencing homelessness into winter, but they're homeless all throughout the year.

And that leads me up to my next question is that they are invisible during the summer.

The homeless problem is that it's almost put on a back burner, but I assume that right now you're already planning for the winter because you have to.

Because, the the temporary space that you had is gone.

That's exactly right.

We never stopped planning.

And so this is we, we have always one foot squarely set in now, in the next, squarely set and next.

This is a, a life of adjustments when you say, is it balanced?

No, it's not balanced.

Because there are demand that the winter overflow shelter puts upo us, that we have to respond to.

But it is a work of adjustments.

And as you get to this season, we are once again heavy loading the reality so that we can think about the long term solution.

It is, it is it is somethin that we are concerned about in knowing that we have a little runway.

So we we are probably, without question, looking at another winte overflow, low barrier shelter.

Now, that's not by desire, but it is by the challenges that we have.

It's going to take a while to find a good location where we can create this campus of care, to have partners on site.

And that's something we haven't stopped having conversations with, with every municipality in dialog.

And I'm excited about what the future holds and we are ready for what the challenges may be to stand up a shelter by December 1st.

Our goal is to open up, December 1st.

But remember the shelter is only one aspect.

We also are working for the long term reality as we are thinking about, prevention.

How do we get resources into the system to keep people from being, put out on the street?

The second phase is shelte because it actually saves lives.

Third phase., as we continue to think about affordable rental property.

People can't keep paying thi and say sustainable and housed, it's it's, it's a model that has not proven to work.

And we got to get some relief.

Then that means we got to find a way to put mor affordable homes for purchase.

There are people paying much more than what they should be paying in rent than they would for a mortgage, [?]

That, of course, is easier said than done.

Oh, yes.

And as you say, that's a long range issue.

But the last time we spoke was before the winter really set in.

And you're an optimist by nature, but I could sense the frustration, the pessimism that you had.

We got through this.

The mayors seemed to really step up.

Yes.

Do you d you have newfound optimism now, especially among the governments that that they're saying, yes, there is a problem.

Yes, we realize it.

Yes, we need to solve it.

Well, not only with the, the partners that, that we consider to be closest to the work with the municipalities.

We're thankful for the City of Moline because they carved out a space for us to, do our best work.

And together we were able to creat the miracle of sustaining life and saving life.

And in creating a future for people, that they could walk squarely in.

But municipalities are stepping up.

Counties, are much more sensitive.

You can watch even the leaning of townships that are throwing everything they have.

The business community now has responded, I know you you remember during the hard winter season when there was some cut to, SNAP and things with Hy-Vee and other corporations really made themselves available, offered meals every day at such a reasonable price.

There are they are also the funder now looking at this differently, state representatives on both sides are having serious conversations now.

I think now is the time that w should absolutely step forward and not step back.

We should run toward thi challenge and not run from it.

We should square our shoulders and plant our feet and, look at it face forward.

James Baldwin said, not everything that is confronted can change, but nothing will change unless its confronted.

So we will have to stare this in the face.

Optimism for me is really rooted in root, in an understanding of hope Im more hopeful than optimistic because optimism sometimes just believes things will work out just in time, and the wheels of inevitability will keep rolling and life will change.

But hope means expectation.

And I must invest in what I expect.

And I'm willing to roll up my sleeves and put my hand alongside the hand of so many others in the region.

The region is strong enough to hold this weight, and we can do this.

Our thanks to Project Now executive director Reverend Dwight Ford.

Just ahead.

Upgrades at the airport.

What will more than $20 million get you?

But first, the kick off of the summer season is upon us.

If you don't already have plans, may we suggest 1 or 2?

Thanks to Visit Quad Cities.

[soft music] Check out the things to do this week in the Quad Cities.

Start your week by visiting the Davenport Civil Rights Traveling Exhibit located in our Union Station destination center.

Then enjoy appetizers, cocktails, and live music while watching the sun set on the rooftop of Up Sky bar.

Next, get ready for QC Craft Beer Week.

Breweries will invite both residents and visitors to experience the Quad Cities craft beer scene.

Then celebrate ten year of Quad Cities Chalk Art Fest.

This is a free two day outdoor festival the whole family will enjoy.

Finally, get ready to visit 70 plus vendors at the Iowa Vintage Fest.

For more events like these, check out our events calendar at VisitQuadCities.com [music ends] The Quad Cities International Airport is entering the second phase of a transformative construction projec to update the terminal building.

It is no small matter.

Not only does the airport nee to modernize for the traveler, but for airport security as well.

Ashleigh Johnston is the airport communications director, and she joins us with an update of what you can expect.

Gateway phase two right now.

give me the highlights.

Because this is perhaps one of the moments of a four phase reconstruction at the airport that people are really going to notice.

Yes.

Phase two is probably going to be the largest investment and most passenger facing updates that we make throughou the four phases of the project.

So phase two includes a complete reimagining of the terminal space from the time you enter the automatic doors all the wa through to the TSA checkpoint, and that includes brand new flooring.

The brown brick floors are going away.

They're going to be replaced with smooth terrazzo.

We're going to be updating the restrooms to exceed ADA standards, but also adding nursing mother suites, companion care, restrooms with adult size, changing tables, reconfiguring the restaurant.

We're bringing in a new concessionaire.

We're adding lounge spaces and seating, and we're actually adding restrooms to the baggage claim area.

So we have restroom right before you go through TSA, but not while you're waiting for your baggage.

And that seems like a mess.

So we'r going to take this opportunity to go ahead and add restrooms in that area as well.

We're talking about the first real major reimagining of the airport in some 20, 25 years.

And, and 20 and 25 years ago, of course, was right around the terrorist attacks.

And the airport almost became, not obsolete, but certainly not what it was intended to be because of TSA and the added security.

How has airports like Quad Cit airport really changed over the last 2 or 3 decades?

I mean, the traveling publics changed.

Travel has changed immensely.

Even if you think back to the pandemic era, air travel has changed dramatically.

So going back 25 years and even pre-security, the last time our terminal was updated was 1985.

So that was before roll-aboard suitcases.

It was before TSA before ADA.

So we've just been trying to cobble together what we need to to try and make it accessible.

But it's it's certainly not meeting the needs of the current traveling public.

The proposed security area was updated in 2000 and 2001.

So we were trying to figure out how to accommodate TSA.

One of the things that we did in phase one was address those TSA era security standards.

So people may remember tha you had to come to the airport, you check in, and then you had to take your own checked luggag to the big TSA screening device and leave it there.

And then the airlines would come and grab it.

That doesn't really comply with what TSA wants their airports to be in terms of security.

So we built a new TSA screening area, a large bag makeup building.

So now people can leave their bag at the ticketing counter, goes on a conveyor belt through TSA screening devices for officers, and then right on onto a large conveyor belt circular belt where airlines can come in with their carts, scoop up the luggage, and take it directly to the aircraft.

So that phase one was really an enabling projec to help address those TSA needs that started right as the post security terminal was completed.

And as you said, phase two really takes you up to TSA security.

No clickety clack anymore.

That that we've got so used to on the floors.

How long do you thin this project is going to take?

These two should last around 18 months.

So we're starting this month, and then we're anticipating wrapping up October 2027.

But we understand that, you know, it's east to wes entrance door to TSA checkpoint.

We want to make sure that th impact to passengers is minimal.

So within the phas there will be smaller projects that are tackled to 3 different stages at a time.

So that way passengers are still able to move through the airport quickly and easily with with little or minimal impact.

Once again, I always go back to, 911, and the airport restaurant was there.

And that was one of the biggest impacts is that, you know, that ended u being wasted space before 911.

You could easily sit there and wait for your plane.

How is that space going to be transformed?

Yeah.

I mean, even at an airport at our size where it's really easy to get through, people don't spend a lot of time pre-security anymore.

They just want to be done.

They want to go through the checkpoint, and then they can relax and get a meal or a drink or just hang out.

Right.

So we're going to be reconfiguring the spac to to meet more modern traveling public needs.

So it's going to be shrunk a little bit.

It's going to become a more of a grab and go.

You'll still be able to get hot items.

Theyre bringing in a Cinnabon with our new concessionaire.

They're bringing in Sonny's Coffee, local brand that people know and recognize.

But national brands like Cinnabon too, that they recognize that they are comfortable grabbing, so definitely shrinking that space dow in order to make more investment on the air sid or post security to have a more full service menu.

And then on the other side, you get through security.

There's going to be as you, as you pointed out, some changes there as well.

That's right.

So new concessionaire called Sky Dine is going to be coming in starting this summer.

They're going to be investing in a full service kitchen that gives a broader array of menu items that are going to become available, but also a focus on offering some healthy items, some grab and go.

So you'll start to see that, change over a little bit.

Some refreshes, for, for passengers.

But really the investment is behind the scenes so that there can be a broader, selection of items.

And then on the bar side if you go down the B concourse investing in some cooler items there as well, healthy grab and go, as well as the opportunity to order hot food from down at the kitchen and have i brought to you at the bar area.

Because I got to admit, every time I've gone through the Quad City airport, you know, it's like you said, the mindset is get through security because you don't know that's your big unknown as you're waiting for you flight is how long it can take.

And usually it's very quick, of course, but you just don't know.

And so sometimes you just are grumpy by the time you get through security.

It's like it was hurry up and now I'm going to hurry up and wait.

I'm going to wait for my plane.

So I mean that after security experience, you really want to change.

That's right.

Yeah.

And some of that will be addressed through, phase four of the four total phases for our project.

So you'll start to see some new seating area, post security, new carpet.

But again, you know, that that new restaurant concessionaire coming in and refreshing their spaces.

We're really fortunate that TSA is usually less than ten minutes, even on a really, really busy morning.

So and we have a fantastic staff that really wants to make it a painless experience and wants to just be helpful and get people started off on their trip on the right foot.

But yes, there will be security changes as well to the restaurant as well as just the overall look.

It's held up remarkably well, but you know, it is starting to be 25 years old and there are things that just need to be updated.

You want to talk about the robot?

Oh, sure.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

So our new concessionaire has this, unique device that they are employing.

They work with other smaller airports.

They're out of South Dakota.

They're expanding into other airports of our size across the US, starting in the Midwest area.

And they have a, an AI robot that can deliver food from the full service kitchen.

Right.

When you go through security and you have the big atrium all the way up to the bar area.

So if you're sitting at the ba and you're like, you know what?

Snacks aren't doing it, or, you know, I don't, I feel like something heftier you can put in an order, it'll print out at the kitchen, and the robot will deliver it in a cabinet locked up, or a bartender will open up.

Be able to deliver your hot food, and robot will make its way back down.

And really, that just saves someone from the restaurant having to just make constant laps all day long, or even inconsistent laps, not knowing what their day is going to look like.

But it learns the footprint of the airport.

It know when people are in front of it so that it can function as a food delivery mechanism.

And they said, airports have a lot of fu naming it, and it's making it, it's little mascot.

And so, you know we'll we'll see what that brings when that start becoming in use at the airport.

So gateway phase two next, what, 16 to 18 months and then all the way through phase four and the completed project, when will the airport be done, so to speak?

It's hard to say.

You know, our goal is certainly to try to keep rolling in from one project to the next, but a lot of it depends on federal funding that's available.

So it's important to us when there is federal funding specific to airport improvement, that we are capitalizing on that, and airport is going to get it, and we want to make sure that the Quad Cities is receiving that federal investment that we can put right back into our community.

So it's hard to say, you know, it will still take several more years, we anticipate, because phase three is going to include canopies that go over the first two lanes outside of the airport so that people are protected while they're unloading or loading their bags, weather it's not always optimal here.

So making sure that there' some exterior work done as well.

And then phase four, we'll see a widening of the TSA checkpoint.

That exit hallway is pretty narrow, so we're going to expand that out a little bit.

And then again just do some light finishes and fixes, update the restrooms, post security, new carpeting, new seating, things like that.

So, you know it depends really when when that federal funding becomes available.

We certainly have the reserves in the airport.

We've been saving and waiting for this, knowing that improvements needed to be made so they will continue, but certainly want to make sure we want to capitalize on anything else that becomes available.

Our thanks to Ashleigh Johnson with the Quad Cities International Airport.

250 years ago, it took a spark to create a nation.

America marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

We look at the spark people in the cities have had that's helped us make our area a better place to live.

We asked the executive director of the Jewish Federation for the Quad Cities, Allan Ross, about his Civic Spark.

[soft music] Well, I'm a member of the Quad Cities community, and I want this communit to be the best that it can be.

We have an expression in Judaism.

It's called tikkun olam, whic stands for repairing the world.

And that's exactly what we're trying to do.

The Jewish Federation and th synagogues here, we're trying to we don't just help the Jewish community, we help the whole community, and we're trying to repair the world piece by piece, as much as we can.

And so that's that's what drives me, is doing the best.

[music ends] On the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile device and streaming on your computer, thanks for taking some time to join us as we talk about the issues on The Cities.

[lively music] [music ends]