PEORIA, Ill. (25 News) – Outreach advocates say that barriers with homeless shelters are a big reason people on the street have not gotten into stable housing.
A bill in Illinois’ General Assembly aims to take at least one of those barriers away.
House Bill 4039 would create the Holistic Overdose Prevention and Equity Act (HOPE). One part of that bill includes taking away an emergency shelter’s ability to implement abstinence-only or sobriety requirements for housing. LULA Co-Founder Kshe Bernard says this is a barrier that many of her participants face.
Bernard tells 25 News there are nearly 150 people in Peoria who don’t have stable housing, and finding it isn’t easy.
Many of Peoria’s homeless shelters, such as the Salvation Army, Dream Center Peoria, and Phoenix Community Development Services, are operating beyond capacity, which is considered a barrier to finding permanent housing for those needing it.
Bernard says once housing becomes available, people must meet other criteria, which can prevent them from taking that next step forward. Obstacles include difficulty obtaining an ID, a Social Security card, and birth certificate, as well as being a felon or registered sex offender, and beyond.
“Always, always, always, at the very top of that list, is serious mental illness, and that’s usually co-occurring with the substance use disorder,” Bernard says.
Bernard says people experiencing homelessness often turn to drugs because they’ve lost connection to health services; therefore, they self-medicate. She says opioids can also be used as a coping mechanism to escape the harsh reality.
The HOPE Act looks beyond why people might be using drugs and goes straight to a solution that people like Bernard and JOLT Foundation’s Executive Director, Chris Schaffner, have pitched for years: the Housing First model.
Schaffner says when people have stable housing, they can shift out of survival mode, and often problematic substance use decreases on its own.
“Shelter is the most important basic need we have, and you can’t be expected to thrive or to build a life for yourself, or even overcome any of the difficulties you’re facing if you don’t have stable housing,” said Schaffner.
Under House Bill 4039, people could still be removed from emergency shelters if they are disruptive or a danger to other people.
If passed, the HOPE Act would also require jail and prison staff to have opioid overdose drug Naloxone on hand. They would also be required to distribute it to detainees when they’re released. Schaffner says that is something Peoria County already does.
Both Schaffner and Bernard say people are more likely to have a fatal overdose after being released from jail because their tolerance to opioids has decreased. They believe HB4039 could save lives.
“We’re crossing our fingers that people make the compassionate choice and realize that people who use drugs deserve, at the bare minimum, to be alive, but they also deserve housing, food, and basic human dignity,” Barnard says.
Although the bill could put more people in stable housing, Bernard says Peoria’s shelters are already stretched thin, as the number of people in need continues to grow.
State lawmakers will return to session in the fall.
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