Larry Simpkins has been living in an encampment located in an overflow parking lot near downtown Bloomington for around three months. In that time, he said the place has become home.
But Simpkins and the roughly 25 other people who stay in the encampment on any given day were told two weeks ago that they need to leave by Oct. 15 — roughly one year after the encampment developed.
“I felt like well, the city don’t care,” Simpkins said about when he was told he’d need to leave.
Evangala Jirus said she walked out during the announcement.
“Honestly, I don’t plan on going anywhere,” she said. “I’m going to fight this time. I’ve been going through this for five years.”
For those who don't have housing lined up, the options are to leave and find shelter elsewhere or use Salvation Army’s overnight winter shelter, which Bloomington City Council approved in the emergency order Sept. 9.
However, many staying in the encampment cannot live in congregate shelter settings and even if they can, the Salvation Army might not have enough room for them.
Not enough space
Home Sweet Home Ministries shelter in Bloomington, which is located next to the encampment and has provided direct services to people there for months, estimates between 30 and 35 people stay at the encampment nightly, and that’s not including the 70 additional people estimated to be unsheltered in McLean County right now.
Meanwhile, Major Dan Leisher at the Salvation Army said the organization is likely only adding 30 beds.
HSHM CEO Matt Burgess said many will likely wind up in tents elsewhere.
“We expect people who are encamped — whether it's in this encampment or elsewhere in the community — we expect that many of them will not seek the emergency winter shelter option until weather conditions deteriorate so bad that they're driven to take it from a survival standpoint,” he said.
Bloomington City Manager Jeff Jurgens said “the decision to end the encampment rests on my shoulders,” but all community partners agreed it was the right move.
“This was meant to be a temporary solution, and we did not want to make a big move until we had something else in place,” he said.
Emergency winter shelter at Salvation Army
Home Sweet Home suggested the Salvation Army open the emergency winter shelter because it has done so before. The city’s emergency ordinance allows Salvation Army to bypass fire and property maintenance codes that forced the organization to shut down the option in 2022.
Leisher said the closest emergency exits are down hallways, but the organization is putting additional smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in place.
Beyond that, Leisher said Salvation Army will need to restock beds and mattresses since it got rid of them when it stopped operating the emergency winter shelter. It's also hiring another staff member to work nights, and he said he expects the water bill will go up with more people staying there.
Anticipating that it could become costly to operate, Eastview Christian Church — which owns the lot the encampment is situated on — is donating $50,000 to help with costs. Eastview’s Lead Pastor Brandon Grant said the church offered its community center on Main Street near downtown Bloomington as a temporary shelter option before Salvation Army was identified.
“We want to do what we can, but we're kind of taking a step back too, and trying to learn from those who have been engaged in this for a lot longer than Eastview,” he said.
The church still hopes to use its community center as a warming center come winter, as it did last year. Salvation Army will also open its front area as an additional warming center.
Finding a permanent solution
Burgess said it’s important to recognize that the emergency winter shelter is a stopgap and not a permanent solution.
“I'm concerned that with unsheltered homelessness not being as visible, that the attention that (the encampment) has brought in our community over the last year or so subsides and the community will that has been building to find solutions ebbs away,” he said.
Jurgens said he’s working to make sure that doesn’t happen and has proposed continued monthly meetings with partners of the housing coalition “to make sure we do get a solution figured out, and we don't find ourselves in this position again.”
Rodney Arbuckle, who just started staying in the encampment while he waits for his apartment to become available in the next couple of weeks, said there needs to be more than two options for indoor homeless shelters.
“I’ve never had to use those facilities before, but I’m just saying now that I’ve been here and lived it and seen it, I mean… we gotta do more,” he said.
The housing coalition set out to get a non-congregate, private shelter option in the community by summer. That didn’t happen. Burgess said the group has a building in mind and Home Sweet Home has agreed to staff the eventual shelter. He added that the current hurdle is securing a sustainable and long-term funding model.
“There are many more steps to be taken before we can share in any detail what the plan is,” he said. “I hope that we are able to share more details about that later this fall, even before all the leaves are off of the trees.”
