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McLean County advisory group recommends spending around $1M to help unhoused

A woman sits in a chair in a conference room, smiling. She's in front of a TV monitor with a presentation running. On the table behind her is a laptop. People can be seen sitting in the conference room in front of her.
Melissa Ellin
/
WGLT
Marita Landreth, McLean County director of behavioral health coordination, leads the meeting on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025.

McLean County’s Mental Health and Public Safety Fund Advisory Council [FAC] is recommending around $1 million from the $1.5 million 2025 budget for the taxpayer fund go toward a non-congregate project for the unhoused population.

“Between people living unsheltered and people providing services to those unsheltered consistently, we know that we have this gap for people that are chronically unhoused, and we need to shift,” Marita Landreth, the county’s behavioral health director, said in an interview with WGLT.

New shelter models have been prominent in recent conversations, said Landreth, adding private sleeping quarters are just one of many ideas experts are asking for.

“It might mean having different considerations for different criminal backgrounds, or some criminal backgrounds that prevent people from accessing shelters, having pets, all of those little pieces,” said Landreth, also the group's clerk.

The independent Behavioral Health Coordinating Council [BHCC], which convenes health and social service experts in the area to discuss key issues and informs much of the council's work, is one of the groups having these conversations.

BHCC members are the ones who originally identified a non-congregate shelter option with on-site or easily accessible mental health and substance use services as a 2025 priority, which is how FAC became aware of the issue and recommended it to make the county’s budget.

As part of the next steps, Landreth is devising a Request for Proposal [RFP] that she hopes to have out shortly and leave open for applications over the next several weeks. She couldn’t give too many details about what the county is looking for since that might give applicants a leg up, but she did say it needs to be innovative.

“If it's the same admission criteria that we have currently in our community,” she said, pointing to the example of resident requirements for homeless shelters, “then it ultimately wouldn't fill that gap” the county is looking for.

Once the RFP application period closes, Landreth said three to five evaluators will review RFPs and then it will go through the normal McLean County Board funding process: an executive committee vote and then a full county board vote.

If approved, it could be the largest single grant to come from the Mental Health and Public Safety Fund that has historically been used somewhat sparingly. Previous projects include the Central Illinois Bridge Academy and the Triage Center turned Behavioral Health Urgent Care [BHUC].

Optimistic about timeline

Given the lengthy timeline expected for proper review and legal counsel oversight, Landreth said the earliest the issue will probably land on the county board’s agenda is April. But she said she’s optimistic about being able to meet that timeline.

An exact dollar amount for the non-congregate shelter also could rise since at the same Monday special meeting the FAC made its recommendation, members learned a $750,000 grant that already had been factored into the county budget was no longer needed. That’s because the McLean County Center for Human Services wrote to the advisory body that it received state funding for BHUC, which the county normally funded through the taxpayer fund.

Landreth pointed out during the meeting that this is good news.

“We are very happy and proud to see how the program has grown and that we’re able to use Mental Health and Public Safety funds for new projects and additional needs in the community,” she said during the meeting.

Other matters

Also at Monday’s special meeting. the Center for Youth and Family Solutions’ Stephanie Barisch was appointed as a temporary chair of the group since Donna Boelen resigned from the Bloomington City Council and, therefore, her role as chair of FAC. Boelen’s FAC replacement has yet to be found since her seat is still vacant on the city council.

Members recommended two McLean County Detention Facility improvement projects to the county board for the safety of staff. This includes a new glass divider at a medical desk and new food slots for booking cell doors.

Sheriff Matt Lane, also a member of FAC, abstained from votes on both issues. He said both opportunities allow decreased risk of harm to staff by adding barriers between them and sometimes “volatile” inmates. He pointed out people can grab nurses or other staff with both set-ups and someone recently threw a chair at a staff member behind the medical desk.

Landreth clarified for a few confused FAC members that since their purview extends beyond the $1.5 million for behavioral health projects, the funding for these jail efforts would come from a separate bucket within the Mental Health and Public Safety Fund.

That was one of several clarifications made during the meeting, which Landreth said comes with the territory, the FAC still being a relatively new group.

“We're still in this point where we're kind of making up for the lost time that we had when BHCC [paused meetings,] and when we were trying to figure out what we wanted things to look like,” she said.

And, the McLean County Recovery Oriented System of Care is asking the county and others to help promote its community health survey. Recovery Support Specialist Cat Hayes said the survey closes Friday and they only have about half of the responses they are looking to get — roughly 100 of 200.

“That’s ultimately going to inform our new strategic plan of what we’re going to be working on for the next three to five years,” she said.

The survey is available online in English and Spanish and participants are automatically entered for a chance to win a $25 Walmart gift card upon completion.

We depend on your support to keep telling stories like this one. WGLT’s mental health coverage is made possible in part by Report For America and Chestnut Health Systems. Please take a moment to donate now and add your financial support to fully fund this growing coverage area so we can continue to serve the community.

Melissa Ellin is a reporter at WGLT and a Report for America corps member, focused on mental health coverage.