The City of Bloomington may want more out of the sales tax money it sends to McLean County, according to City Manager Tim Gleason.
The conversation with WGLT arose from the question whether the city would like to cap the amount of sales tax money sent to the county for mental health programming. City Manager Tim Gleason said the city is not proposing such a cap and is satisfied with existing services and the level of communication from the county. Gleason said there are underserved areas that revenue stream could also support.
“We have an increased awareness of our homeless population. We have an increased awareness of the migrant situation. Should there be an expectation that some of these funds that we're supplying the county be a part of funding the ultimate solution in both of those additional areas? When the agreement was first entered into several years ago, that really was not an issue,” said Gleason.
The newly released McLean County Regional Planning Commission draft Regional Housing Recovery Plan identified a gap of 330-350 units of permanent supportive housing for the homeless in the Twin Cities.
That’s based on point-in-time counts in 2023 from PATH, the Bloomington/Central IL Continuum of Care, and a formula provided by the Corporation for Supportive Housing.
“In 2022, there were more than 1,200 homeless persons in the county – 200 of which were children. The number of homeless households (164 in 2022) has increased by 160% since 2019. This indicates a greater need for support services and housing throughout the county,” said the draft.
Gleason said not-for-profit agencies are studying how to address rising numbers of unhoused people and eventually he expected they will ask for money for something like permanent supportive housing.
"I'm fully preparing for the day that does come. That's going to drive a conversation with the county and other sources of revenue to be able to meet that need in the community," said Gleason.
Homeless rates in McLean County were higher in 2022 than at any point over the last four years, according to the regional planning commission.
“878 residential evictions were filed in 2022, and 865 were filed in 2023. High eviction rates contribute to the homeless issue,” said the draft plan.
Gleason cautioned that the conversation is "incomplete" and is complex with many stakeholders, including 501(c)(3) agencies. He said dialogue will likely ramp up once proposals emerge from the human services sector.
“Home Sweet Home ministries, (CEO) Matt Burgess, is doing an excellent job. He really seems to be the person that has emerged as the lead in this conversation. They're exploring possibilities for this. Once we have a couple of options to choose from as a long-term solution, that's when the ask comes back to the city and the town for this additional funding request,” said Gleason.
Gleason characterized the issue of the homeless in the community as an "emergency."
"Does that allow for a memorandum of understanding or an intergovernmental agreement that is sort of a trial period in any given location," said Gleason.
He said the current zoning code has no provision for permanent housing, tiny homes, pilot homes, or other tools to help the unhoused.
“What you have is possibly an attachment to offerings through a church affiliation that might allow for that, but we know that that's not the cleanest approach,” said Gleason.
Gleason appeared leery of enshrining such things in a revision of zoning.
“That might be a great solution for this topic today. But what does that open the door to, you know, in other areas?” said Gleason.
City staff, he said, are considering whether a formal emergency declaration would allow the city to approve a site for permanent supportive housing or micro-housing without a larger overhaul of zoning rules.
“It does give some allowances. It's not dissimilar to my former community with a disaster declaration and those kinds of emergency powers and authorities that were adopted in a situation like that,” said Gleason.
He referred to the effort to recover from a large tornado that scourged the community of Washington, Illinois, in late 2013.
