- Will you consider this?

We're all grateful the weather is warming up and Spring has finally arrived, but there are still those in the community who are struggling, no matter what the forecast.

We'll explain, and help is available.

(upbeat music) Mental, social, and physical disabilities can be overwhelming.

As a result, many people will experience homelessness.

Assistance is available though.

To help them find supportive housing and other services, Phoenix Community Development Services is there to the rescue, and Phoenix Director Christine Kahl joins me to share the mission and vision.

So this is the Christine Show, but you got a lot more benefit to the community than I have, so thank you for everything you're doing.

- Thank you for having me.

- At Phoenix, so describe what Phoenix Community Development Services is.

- Sure.

Well first of all, we've been in the community for 40 years.

Our prior name was Southside Office of Concern, and a lot of people still kind of associate that with us.

But basically since 1989, we have been providing supportive housing to individuals that are experiencing homelessness, and the main cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing.

So part of what our solution is, is to offer permanent supportive housing that is different than emergency shelter, which is a time-limited crisis intervention.

Our supportive housing is an end to their homelessness.

Once they come into our programs, they become a lease holder, and our supportive services then are tailored to meet them where they're at for the individual to meet their highest level of self-sufficiency.

So we have some people who have lived with us for 30 years, we have other people who've lived with us for two years, and we're able to move them into more independent living.

So it's really kind of up to what the individual needs that dictates how long they're in services with us.

- But you work with the shelters, too?

- Yes, correct.

- So that's how you find, or that's how some of these people find you.

- Correct.

So HUD, which is the primary funder of homeless assistance programs from the federal government, dictates something called a continuum of care.

And so in our four county service area, which is Peoria, Tazewell, Woodford, and Fulton County, there's a continuum of care that is responsible at a systemic level for doing planning around ending homelessness.

We're a part of that continuum, and so I bring that up because there is a master list.

A lot of people think all the agencies that serve homelessness are duplicating each other, and really that's not the case.

We actually do a very good job of coordinating services, non-duplicating, and so it's a continuum of housing interventions.

And there's one wait list basically for all those services, and so we pull from that wait list anytime there are openings to the program.

Our agency also happens to have the only homeless outreach team for the region, and so we have kind of the front end and the back end.

So our homeless outreach team is finding people who aren't yet in shelters who are living on the streets, and then we also do inReach to the shelters.

And so we will put their name on that list, we will do the assessment and get them placed on that list.

And then, like I said, we have permanent housing at the back end of that.

- How many people work at Phoenix if you have that outreach and they go out and find these homeless people?

- Correct.

- And how many homeless people do we have in this area?

- Sure.

Well, as an agency we have about 47 employees.

The homeless outreach team is comprised of seven positions that do both homeless outreach and something called Rapid Re-Housing.

As far as the number of people in our community, once a year, there's a count across the entire country the last week of January that is meant to get a snapshot of what homelessness looks like in this country.

And so when you hear the statistic on any given night, 55,000 people, it comes from that count.

Our count that was just conducted in January of this year, we have 418 people that are homeless.

That includes families with children and single adults, couples that are without children, and so that is what we had on that given night was 418.

- So it also means that they may be in shelters because they are homeless at that point?

- Correct.

- Or they are actually living on the street?

- They could be both.

They could be either unsheltered or in a shelter.

And yes, they still count as homeless while they're in the shelter.

- A lot of people say, "How can these people, how can they not want to find a home?"

You said there's some people that have been with you for 30 years.

What is it?

What is the holdup?

- Sure.

Well, the folks that have lived with us, they're in housing.

- Right.

- So they don't have to find another home.

- Okay.

- But it's the ones that are still living in the shelter or on the streets.

And many of them, it's not a matter of not wanting to find a home, it's sometimes not necessarily having the skillset to do that, but also all the barriers that they have to face.

And as I said in earlier, the number one cause of homelessness actually is the lack of affordable housing.

So there was a report just released earlier or late last week that's called The Gap.

And that is a report done by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, and it speaks to the lack of affordable housing.

So for example, in a market study that we recently did, in our community here, there are more than 15,000 households that qualify for low income affordable housing, and yet there are fewer than 4,000 housing units for that same population.

- Hmm.

- So that kind of housing just doesn't exist for many of them.

Then when you talk about the barriers for someone who also has a mental health condition or a substance use disorder, and aren't getting appropriate treatment for that, those are also additional barriers that they need to overcome.

And then certainly the barriers to employment, employment among our population is over 90% unemployment.

That's pretty significant compared to the local unemployment rate.

- Extremely.

- Yes.

- So you are working with them to try to address all of these different situations, the social, the mental, the physical, everything- - Yes.

- Every disadvantage that they may have in their lives.

- Correct.

Yeah, so one, our agency is a licensed mental health agency.

So we have trained professionals to offer a range of mental health services for them.

I should qualify this and say services are voluntary.

Fundamentally, we believe that housing is a human right, and we adhere to something called Housing First, which means that there are no conditions for them coming in to housing and no conditions for them to remain housed.

It is our job to engage them in the supportive services that are appropriate for them.

So we could provide mental health services, we refer out for substance abuse services.

We're not able to provide that ourselves.

We are currently building what's called a workforce development center, trying to raise the employment rate among our folks.

So we're gonna be opening up a social enterprise cafe, it should be opening up this summer.

And with that, we intend to put our folks to work, helping them gain certification in food and sanitary hand...

I can't remember it.

- Food preparation.

- Yes.

Yes.

- Right, okay.

- And then put them into employment out in the private market after they've become a kind of more trained worker and stuff.

And so again, it's just trying to meet them where they're at and just offering them the services for them to become as independent as they can.

Some are not likely to ever overcome some of these barriers.

The mental health and substance abuse issues, it's about finding their own pathway to recovery.

That looks different for everybody.

- But it has to come from them.

- That's correct.

- You can offer aid, but they have to accept it.

- Correct.

- Right.

Okay.

So affordable housing, what does that cost in dollars and cents in 2023?

- Well, HUD actually defines, it is no different than when somebody is going to buy a home, right?

That a lender will usually look at what can you afford?

And so kind of the 30% mark is what is defined as affordability.

So a household should not be spending more than 30% on what it costs to be housed.

That includes either mortgage or rent, any insurance, taxes, utilities, all of that.

And so when you think about that, somebody who's received social security, okay?

So look at our seniors who are on social security, they make, what, $12,000 a year.

Okay, so if 30% of that income has to go to housing, they cannot even afford what the average cost is in our community right now for a one bedroom apartment without some kind of subsidy.

- What is that average cost?

I honestly don't know.

- Sure.

The average cost right now for a one bedroom is almost $700.

- Really?

- So you start doing the math and it's simply out of reach for many people.

Part of that report that I referenced, they also do a lot of research.

This is a national report that looks at a bunch of data sets, but one of what they do is they look at what the income is in a certain community and say, "How many hours a week would somebody need to work to bring in enough income?"

And people who are on the minimum wage scale, for example, most of them would have to work almost 80 hours a week at minimum wage in order to be able to afford a two bedroom apartment in our community, and stuff.

And so we both know that most people are not working 80 hours a week.

- Correct.

- So it just becomes a financial hardship for households that then oftentimes, you've heard the phrase, I'm one paycheck away from losing my housing.

And so that's what we see a lot.

During COVID we saw a whole new population of people entering the homeless system that were really fundamentally around nothing but the economics of having lost their jobs and then not being able to pay their rent.

- Right.

Oh gosh.

- Now you have fundraisers too.

- Correct.

- That help the agency to help the people?

- Correct.

- I know you have Give Me Shelter, Gimme Shelter.

- Yes.

- Not give me.

- Yes.

Yes.

- I'm being too proper Gimme Shelter where volunteers come and raise money, and describe that event- - Correct.

- Because it can be pretty frigid.

- Yes.

And that event, actually for our 2023 Gimme Shelter is still open, raising funds through March 31st.

So the actual event was held February 17th, and basically from 6:00 PM on one night until 6:00 AM the next night, so a 12 hour period of time, we have people registered to be a participant, and they spend the night sleeping in either a large refrigerator box or their vehicle out in the elements, regardless of what the weather is.

And for the privilege of sleeping in there, we ask them to do peer-to-peer fundraising and to try to raise at least a thousand dollars and stuff.

And so what I will say is that in the seven years we've held this event, there's kind of a core group of people, we're less than 10 now, who keep returning for the event.

So what I like about it is that every year new participants come to gain the experience, but also to learn about homelessness.

During that event we offer community sessions where we talk about different aspects of homelessness.

So last year for example, we had a session on human trafficking and how that contributes to homelessness, veteran homelessness, so just different aspects of it, trying to educate the community.

And those are both in person, people can come down and see those, but we also live stream those.

And so as I indicated, that fundraiser is still open and available via our website through March 31st.

Then throughout the course of the year, right now, we do not have another major fundraising event, but we do a lot of drives.

And I know that sounds kind of boring, but an example, I call it a product drive.

When you're homeless and you are coming into a home, you do not come in with the things that make it a home.

You don't have silverware, you don't have pots and pans, you don't have sheets to put on your bed.

And so throughout the course of the year, engage a lot of groups to, how you would do a food drive, we ask you to do a product drive instead to get those kinds of things to outfit a house.

- So new or used items?

- New.

- Oh, all new.

- Yes.

- Especially in the day of the pandemic.

- Yes.

- All right.

- Yes, that, and frankly, I don't have enough storage really to be storing up a bunch of used stuff that comes in all the time.

So this past year we opened up Madison Apartments II, which was 24 apartments, and so we ended homelessness for 24 people.

And with that we did this product drive and made sure that they all had basic furniture, so a bed, a couch, loveseat and then linens and all that kind of stuff.

But the other thing is, even once, after they come in, folks who are struggling with the economics of our society, if they are getting food assistance, say on a SNAP card, they still can't buy non-food items like garbage bags, toilet paper, cleaning supplies.

- Those essentials.

- Exactly, to maintain a household.

And so those are also things that we encourage groups to raise, laundry detergent, just the basics, that 40% of who we serve are zero income.

Everybody we serve meet the low income scale, so they simply cannot buy a lot of these items.

And so we rely on the generosity- - On those drives.

- Of the community for that.

- So when will the next drive be, and how many drives do you think you'll have other than the Gimme Shelter fundraiser?

- Well, we keep it posted on our website all the time as an ongoing wishlist.

- Okay, a website?

- Yes.

- Give me that.

- Oh boy.

- Okay.

- That's a trick.

- We'll look it up.

- I think it's just www.phoenixcds.org.

- Okay.

All right.

So you'll have, how many of those drives then?

- Usually we'll make a concerted effort about every other month to target certain groups.

But like I said, the wishlist itself stays up all the time.

So we have a lot of groups who simply will approach us and offer to do one as well, so we can do it anytime.

- Now, recently you purchased, I believe, a couple of buildings, so there's one that says for sale on it.

- Yes.

- And it used to be the Methodist School of Nursing.

- That's correct.

So we have- - The old Ramada.

- Yeah, so we have a couple of developments underway.

One that we actually are just breaking ground on is down on in the 200 block of Madison, and it's gonna be Madison Apartments III.

And so literally we just closed on all the financing for that, and we're on about an 11 month construction schedule.

That will be 16 apartments for homeless youth, not children, homeless youth between the ages of 18 to 24.

That is the largest growing demographic that we are seeing in our region.

And so we decided that a specialized supportive housing program to meet kind of their developmental needs, was warranted, and so we should be opening that up next year.

Then the building you're referencing, we have under contract.

We are still working on pulling together- - Purchasing.

- Yes.

- Okay.

- So the entire development intends to convert that building into 55 apartments, and it's a construction cost.

Well, the total development cost, including your soft cost with architect is $24 million.

- Hmm!

- So it's not just as simple as purchasing the building.

So we've submitted several applications trying to put together a financing package for that development.

And so we're hoping by June we'll know whether or not we've been successful at raising all of that money that we need to raise.

- Will HUD assist with that as well?

- Well, HUD does not, the HUD homeless assistance monies are usually not used for the capital end of it and stuff.

Once you open, then yes, there's HUD assistance that helps with the operating expenses.

When we have 60% of those apartments, we'll have a project based voucher that's been approved by the Peoria Housing Authority.

And then the remaining third of that will largely probably come from homeless assistance money.

So that's what keeps the project open, once it's open.

- [Christine Z] Okay.

- If we are able to pull that project together, the good news for the community is that it will end family chronic homelessness here.

It will, that master wait list that I told you about earlier, it will wipe that list out.

HUD designates it as something called "getting to functional zero" for certain populations.

So what that means is that after we are able to open that building and house all these families on the wait list, anytime a new family presents in our community as being homeless, we would have them housed within 24 hours.

Now, isn't that a wonderful goal for our community to get to?

- Truly, truly.

Let's get back to the young adults.

What is the cause of that?

What has contributed to the numbers being so significant?

- The number one reason, unfortunately for many of those youth is that they age out of the child welfare system, and so they don't have families of origin to return to.

Think about what was your experience when you were 18 and having a family of support.

And some of them don't age out until they're 21, but either way, they're still coming out, many of them with mental health disorders, developmental disabilities disorder, but having no natural support system.

And so unfortunately many of them find themselves on the street and then they don't have, many of them, even just the daily living skills to figure out what to do about that.

So that's the biggest reason that we see that age group growing.

- What can you do?

We had the bitter, bitter cold this winter, and as you get onto the interstate, there was our own little tent city.

What were you doing, or could you do anything to help those people?

- Sure.

We actually have about four tent cities, three here in Peoria and one in Pekin that are kind of concentrated.

And basically our homeless outreach team engages with those people.

So we know who all of them are and they're open and getting services from us, but they're either on that wait list waiting for housing or they're making choices to not come into housing.

A little over, I think it was December 21, we had that large encampment under the bridge.

At that time we had approximately 20, 21 folks in there.

With some resources from the city, we were able to totally get that encampment into a hotel and then get them into permanent housing on the rental market through short-term rental assistance.

A year goes by, their lease runs out, their rent assistance runs out- - They're back on the street.

- And many of them are back and stuff, and so that's part of what we do see with that unsheltered population living in encampments, is that a lot of them are the folks that are rotating in and out of that system.

And so frankly, we just have to be consistent in showing up, consistent in offering them the assistance that we have available.

We do try to discourage, I know that there was a lot of publicity and so a lot of people show up and bring stuff down there to help them.

Unfortunately, many times that people bring down used items that even those residents don't want.

And so then you start getting- - Trash.

- Garbage accumulation and stuff, so we kind of discourage that and stuff.

And some of that is trusting in the system that we have many partners, not just us that are going down there.

OSF offers street medicine, Jolt Harm Reduction is down there working with those folks.

Our homeless outreach team is working with those folks, and so we are trying to get them into housing, but... - How frustrating can it be for you when there's so much outreach and you're doing so much and for whatever reason, is it pride that some don't wanna accept any help or assistance?

- I don't think it's pride, as much as... One, many of the people that we're working with, for whatever reason, think that they're gonna have a bunch of rules imposed on them.

And that comes back to what I talked earlier about a housing first model.

And so they just don't believe that there's not gonna be conditions put on them, so that is one of the issues.

But the other thing is just, as I mentioned, individual pathways to recovery.

When you're not well with your own mental illness or you're not well with your own substance use, you tend to just shy away from a bunch of other resources, and unfortunately get caught in that cycle.

So like I said, our job is to just keep engaging them over and over and over again.

I will say the state of Illinois, for the first time ever in 2022, put together a plan to end homelessness in this state.

And it just recently had its first report issued.

And I pointed out to people that one of the things that is a reality for us, although it's hard to hear, is that one of those goals is about closing the mortality gap because people who stay on the street are more likely to die.

And so that's probably- - Because of the conditions or because of health conditions?

- Yes.

- Because of the other conditions?

- Correct.

Correct.

I mentioned earlier the point in time count.

There was an individual in our community who has stayed living in a car for a long time.

He is very well known to the civic leadership.

And during the point in time count, our team was down there to do the interview to get him counted, and he was suffering from very severe frostbite.

Our team transported him to the hospital.

He has been somebody who's not wanted to come in to any of the housing services for years.

This intervention finally allowed him, he is living with us right now in one of our bridge housing programs, awaiting a permanent housing placement.

And that's been a first that he's been in housing for, I don't know, close to a decade.

And so I think just every once in a while you have to find what is that intervention point that's going to work for each individual- - That's gonna be their aha moment.

- And that's differently.

Correct.

- But again, it's probably frustrating that especially like with that man, you had to just keep going back, and you feel like you're nagging.

- You can.

(Christine Z laughs) Again, for us, we just don't put conditions on them.

And so I think, what I will say is I've got an incredible outreach team, a lot of empathy, but I think that they just have the certain knack to walk away every day and say, "I helped that person today, that because of what I just did that person's likely to make it through 'til tomorrow," and stuff.

And so you've just gotta look at it as small baby steps, and what are they?

- So really a day at a time.

- Correct.

Correct.

And the other thing I'll say is that as a result of COVID, there's been a lot of federal dollars that have been pushed out trying to get the people that are unsheltered into housing.

We had for one year, almost a million dollars in short term rent assistance and could not even spend half of it.

We spent less than 400,000.

And it wasn't because people on the street didn't want to be housed, it was because we couldn't find housing units.

If you think about it, during the eviction moratorium, the rental market was tight.

- And there was no place to go.

- That's correct.

So we couldn't even find housing units for people, even though we had money to pay for rent.

And unfortunately, the market still hasn't like fully leveled out.

So we just are simply, I mean, a waiting list is a waiting list is a waiting list.

I can't build fast enough and I can't find enough rental housing on the market.

- Well, in our last couple of minutes, where do we go from here?

- Well, I think that, as I've indicated, permanent supportive housing's what ends homelessness.

And so I would like to see our region have a comprehensive plan about how do you build and create enough affordable housing units and permanent supportive housing units to create the capacity for us to end homelessness.

Because right now, when you have one in 400 people on a wait list, we're just scratching the surface.

The new building that I'll open up in a year for 16 units, what?

16 units still is 16 people that I end homelessness for.

- But it's still 12 months away.

- That's correct.

That's correct.

- So that, again, it's very frustrating.

- Yes.

- But you can redo, you can renovate buildings.

- Yes.

- If the buildings are available.

- Yes, and if you can get the capital funds to do so.

- Okay, well, you've got your work still cut out for you.

I hate to say it's job security, but you're helping so many people.

- Yes.

- And that's very rewarding.

- Yes it is.

- Is that why you got involved in it?

- Yeah, honestly, so I have three children with special needs, and mine really is driven more by a personal passion that I believe that everybody with mental health disorders or any other behavioral health condition has the right to live in the community instead of an institution.

And fundamentally, that's what our housing provides.

Many people that are homeless, they're facing institutionalization if we can't get them some kind of housing in the community.

And so I just fundamentally believe that that is the solution to a pretty serious problem.

- That's your goal.

Well, thank you very much for enlightening us.

- Thank you.

- And we'll keep an eye on that website for your next drive.

- Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

- All right.

And thank you all for joining us.

Hope you learned a lot about the Phoenix Community Development Services.

Again, thanks for joining us.

Stay safe and healthy and stay blessed.

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