* 2020…

The City of Kankakee has rejected a plan put forth by Fortitude Community Outreach to turn the former St. Paul Lutheran Church School in Downtown Kankakee into a homeless shelter for the upcoming winter.

The proposal was struck down by the Kankakee City Council Monday night by a vote of 12-2. […]

Last winter, Fortitude used Emmanuel Baptist as a shelter but was only granted a one year permit for the site.

* The city eventually approved a winter site. Then the operator started making plans to open a new downtown facility. And that brings us to last month…

The Kankakee City Council has postponed any action on restoring federal funds given to the city to support the operation of a homeless shelter by Fortitude Outreach. Mayor Chris Curtis was not present during the meeting.

Four weeks ago, the council voted to remove the group’s funding after receiving complaints of police interference and panhandling by homeless people outside downtown Kankakee businesses. […]

The delay in funding decision comes amidst ongoing discussions about how to address homelessness in Kankakee. A recent study found that the city’s homeless population has increased by 34% since 2019. The study also highlighted the need for more affordable housing and supportive services.

* Last week…

Several members of Kankakee’s downtown business community, including a former longtime Kankakee alderman, pressed the city administration to take action regarding the expanding homeless and day-drinker gatherings in the city’s core. […]

[Mayor Chris Curtis] said that while the city has earmarked $100,000 of American Rescue Plan Act money for Fortitude, that money has not yet been transferred. […]

Fortitude is planning to construct a 4,800-square-foot shelter in the 100 block of North Washington Avenue, on property immediately north of the CVS Pharmacy. The total cost of construction is set at $1.2 million. […]

[Fortitude’s executive director Dawn Broers] added that Fortitude’s program is not the reason for the spike in downtown difficulties. […]

[Former Alderman Dennis Baron] said opening a larger homeless shelter without providing daytime services will only heighten the growing problem. […]

“Promoting day sheltering before we have a permanent site in which to provide overnight shelter is literally putting the cart before the horse,” [Broers] said. “It appears there is an incredibly disconnecting, and illogical, rhetoric growing that our presence as a shelter is causing a problem rather than working toward solving a problem.”

* Yesterday, Fortitude issued a press release…

Fortitude Community Outreach announced Monday night that they will be stepping back from providing overnight sheltering in the city of Kankakee and requested that further discussions on a potential $100,000 ARPA grant be ceased.

“For these last 8 months, we have been told an agreement for an ARPA grant and approval was coming any day. In the meantime, we have been facing increasing waves of misinformation, scrutiny, attacks, and demands that hurt our organization and our homeless. We now realize the city has not been working with us in good faith, and the Council will not approve this grant. We realize the escalating attacks are so that this funding can be denied without political fallout: make us look bad so you don’t look bad.” […]

In more recent months, the city increasingly highlighted issues occurring downtown. These issues were primarily caused by housed individuals with addiction issues, or homeless individuals who cannot or will not receive services and led to the closure of the downtown gazebo area. Fortitude became the target of these problems and the existence of the shelter in Kankakee was blamed for an increase in homelessness. Prominent business members spoke publicly stating that individuals were being sent to Kankakee from out of state just to stay at Fortitude, without providing any additional information with those claims. “While the vast majority of our guests are from Kankakee County, we occasionally receive guests who came to Kankakee for a job or a relationship that fell through and led to homelessness. We talked through those concerns with the Chief and agreed to work on a policy that would limit the stay of any out of town guests.” […]

If we were approved for funding, we know we would continue to face attacks and false accusations simply for existing. It is appalling that we are being blamed for an increase in homelessness and accused of actually shipping homeless in from out of state. People aren’t coming to Kankakee just to stay at Fortitude.” […]

Fortitude has been pummeled with demands for day sheltering in the last year, with demands increasing along with the downtown concerns in the last several months. “More day services for the homeless will be very helpful, but there is a misunderstanding about what day services will be. Individuals who want to engage in addictions and panhandle are not going to sit in a building all day where there are rules and restrictions. The individuals that are the most troublesome are not the ones we will be serving.” […]

“It was clear that adversaries were recruiting more adversaries, and a campaign of misinformation and fear mongering was underway. It was time to remove ourselves from the conversation before it destroyed our ability to serve the homeless in any way.”

* Daily Journal…

“We were shocked [by the announcement],” said [5th Ward Alderman Victor Nevarez], then paused for a moment. “I guess there is relief as well. This is an issue we don’t have to deal with now.”

I got news for you, alderman.