shelter

Podcast: Champaign-Urbana lacks sufficient shelter for homeless families

Submitted by Dan Petrella on Fri, 2010-10-22 12:49

By Dan Petrella/CU-CitizenAccess — Champaign-Urbana has shelters to house homeless men, women and children, but intact families can have difficulty finding a place that can accommodate them.

Acton Gorton/CU-CitizenAccess/Restoration Urban Ministries is one of the few housing options for homeless families but isn't designed for short-term, emergency housing.

Lack of refuge from winter may leave homeless out in cold

Submitted by The News-Gazette on Tue, 2009-12-08 10:52

CHAMPAIGN -- Some homeless men in Champaign-Urbana might be left out in the cold this winter if organizers are unable to come up with a plan to revamp an overflow shelter that rotated between area churches in past years.

The TIMES Center, a transitional housing facility for homeless men at 70 E. Washington St., Champaign, previously administered the overflow shelter. Men who needed refuge from the winter weather would show up at the center to go through a screening process and were then taken to a church where they stayed the night. But after five years, the center will no longer offer the service this winter.

The News-Gazette/ The Rev. Ervin Williams stands in one of the newly renovated rooms at Restoration Urban Ministries in Champaign. The rooms will house members of the Safe Haven tent community until mid-spring