A tent encampment near AutoZone in Normal was set to disperse Sunday due to a coming construction project, but a few residents still remain.
Some of the encampment residents have been placed into housing, with most relocating to other encampments in town, according to Kim Massey with God’s Mission Ministry.
“I basically gave them resources and helped them connect with other agencies in town, like Center for Human Services and PATH and Project Oz, and they were able to gain financial assistance or services for rapid rehousing or permanent subsidized housing,” Massey said.
One of the residents who got on the rapid rehousing list through the Center for Human Services is Bianca Nickum.
“I don't know much about [rapid rehousing] myself. I just heard about it and was really interested. I'm ready to get off the streets and live my life and raise my kids,” Nickum said.
Nickum has been living unhoused for almost a year and said she has been at the encampment location near AutoZone, along Sugar Creek at Center Street, for about three months.
Relocating
Some of the longer encampment residents are Louis Ray Starr and Laura Lane, both of whom have said they are not interested in relocating.
“I will not be removed here unless the army comes here,” Starr said, “because I'm hanging this jacket up in a tree, and it's going to stay there until they get here.”
Starr has moved a few yards south of the encampment in hopes that he is off the property where construction will take place.
Lane, who has also moved her tent a few yards south, said she originally moved away from the main encampment because of problems and theft.
“I've never done this before,” Lane said. “I found [the encampment], we had nowhere to go. We are people. Now we got to live out in the woods like animals.”
Lane is 68 and has been living unhoused for “too long.”
“This is heinous. This is elder abuse, and it's supposed to be illegal, and my dog is suffering,” Lane said.
Home Sweet Home Ministries [HSHM] Director of Community Outreach Steve Tassio said Starr and Lane are the two most resistant to the relocation efforts.
Past the deadline
HSHM and God’s Mission Ministry are continuing to work with the few remaining residents at the encampment.
Massey said the AutoZone encampment has been one of the best dispersals she has been a part of because the Town of Normal gave the residents an efficient amount of time to relocate.
However, Massey said the town did not have housing options immediately available.
“I do think absolutely that they should have been given an alternative place,” Massey said. “Displacement is extremely hard and extremely disheartening, and they have nowhere to go, and they keep getting displaced. We dealt with the lot displacement last year, and now this displacement.”
The displacement of the AutoZone encampment is entirely different from Bloomington's Eastview Christian Church lot dispersal back in October, according to Massey.
Even though signage was posted around the AutoZone encampment stating the June 1 relocation deadline, the date has not been as strict as it was with the Bloomington dispersal.
“I'm not positive about the lack of strictness about the deadline, but the police were out there today [Monday] and will definitely be back tomorrow [Tuesday] to check on any individuals still remaining,” Tassio said.
The deadline was posted due to a Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District [BNWRD] construction project that will start soon in the area.
BNWRD executive director Tim Ervin told WGLT that "we do not see the last remaining residents as delaying the project.”
