Living in a tent on a grassy strip of land in downtown Peoria is not an easy life, but it is a “tolerable” one, says Glenn Giles, a homeless man living in the city.
Giles, 59, has been living in a tent — one of roughly eight that make up a small encampment in downtown Peoria — since November, he told the Journal Star. He once held a job at the Peoria Civic Center and had a place to live, but now he is a de-facto leader of this small encampment and one of the hundreds of people that face homelessness in Peoria every year.
The encampment, which is much smaller and much cleaner than the homeless encampments that popped up on Knoxville Avenue and Dries Lane in Peoria last year, sits on a narrow patch of land located between Interstate 74 and Fayette Street.
Its relative cleanliness and “out of sight, out of mind location” are both by design, Giles said.
The location of the camp puts it in close proximity to many of Peoria’s homelessness services. United Way, Phoenix Community Services, JOLT Harm Reduction and the Salvation Army all have a presence in or near downtown.
Giles himself is “patiently waiting” on a list for housing through Phoenix and is also working with JOLT to secure an ID. He hopes those two things will help him land back on his feet.
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Why homelessness services are centered downtown
Connecting people like Giles to the services offered by groups such as Phoenix and JOLT, who Giles credits as being tremendous help to those living in the encampment, is crucial to tackling the issue of homelessness in Peoria.
Giles said the process of securing an ID and obtaining housing has been like “pulling teeth,” but, nonetheless, it wouldn’t be possible without JOLT or Phoenix.
Setting up camp downtown makes connecting with those services easier, which is part of the reason the outreach groups center some of their efforts in that area.
Molly Pilgreen, the vice president and chief operating officer at Phoenix Community Development Services, said downtown Peoria provides close proximity for homeless people to food, transportation and health services, all within walking distance.
“For us, it’s just about the accessibility of those services, making sure they can go to where they need and what they need,” Pilgreen said. “The other thing about it that’s been kind of nice and unique is there is a community among those who experience homelessness or have experienced homelessness, and so there’s this idea they build their own little community and participate in events we’re hosting at one of our properties and they can all walk to that or use transportation because we do offer transportation.”
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Kate Green, the executive director of United Way’s Home for All Continuum of Care, said developments like the new downtown shelter planned by the Salvation Army at the site of the former Labor Temple and the continuation of other programs downtown could go a long way in combatting homelessness.
She said the consolidation of multiple services into particular areas — such as the city’s downtown — is pivotal in that effort.
“What we see, not only here locally but across the country, is that individuals experiencing homelessness have a lack of access to a lot of resources, including things like transportation. So making sure that we have a lot of those primary needs consolidated in an area where they can access all of those — health care, access to food, transportation, employment — those all have to be solidified in a way that it’s easily accessible for those experiencing homelessness,” Green said.
Homelessness services in downtown Peoria is not a new or recent part of downtown’s landscape, Green said. The Salvation Army, for example, has had a presence on Jefferson Street for decades. Services since then have expanded to meet needs as part of a “natural evolution,” she said.
“That’s what downtowns have served as for a long time, and individuals experiencing homelessness are just as much an integral part of our landscape of our communities and making sure that we adequately meet their needs,” Green said.
This year in Peoria, there are 381 people experiencing homelessness, according to Phoenix.
The city of Peoria is “hitting its stride” when it comes to addressing the needs of homelessness, said 2nd District City Councilmember Chuck Grayeb, saying he is “very proud” to see what has happened in downtown Peoria.
“But with the homeless services we need mental health services, which has been a great challenge for our country and for our city,” Grayeb said. “That’s why I remain so pleased that we have the investment at Heddington Oaks.”
Heddington Oaks, the former nursing home facility, is a planned behavioral health center in Peoria County.
What life is like for the homeless in downtown Peoria
On a warm June afternoon, Scotty Shepherd was hanging out with Giles at his tent in downtown Peoria, sitting in the shade of a tarp and umbrella. But Shepherd isn’t living at the encampment with Giles — not anymore.
Shepherd, who was celebrating his 49th birthday that day, is one of the success stories of the homelessness services offered in downtown Peoria.
Shepherd used to live in the downtown encampment. In fact, the tent Giles was living in used to be his. But now, Shepherd had his own room, his own bed, and much to his enjoyment, his own TV and DVD player, at Phoenix’s Veteran’s Haven Home.
Shepherd has his own place to live now, but he hasn’t forgotten about his friends at the encampment. To celebrate his birthday, they gathered in the common area at the Veteran’s Haven Home, where Shepherd brought his TV and DVD player from his room so they could all watch together.
He still tries to embody the three qualities he says are necessary to survive living in a homeless encampment: Respect, trust and brotherhood.
“Morals are the main thing,” Shepherd said.
The same expectation of respect and trust the people living in the camps expect from each other, they hope to get from the public as well. Giles said the people who live there are not “bums” or “derelicts” and said the experience of being homeless has been “very humbling” for him.
“I didn’t plan on any of this,” Giles said. “I know it’s an eyesore.”
In the encampment, people take care of each other, Giles and Shepherd said. They often pool together their resources for food and other necessities.
Drugs and fighting are not a problem at this camp either, Giles said, adding that anyone who has tried to make those things an issue has been run out of the camp. There is admitted alcohol use in the camps, evidence of which can be seen in empty cans strewn here and there.
Occasionally, there’s been instances of theft at the encampment, but those get policed by the residents.
Giles says he went from making $20-$30 an hour at his previous job to now making about $20-30 a day junking. It’s not much, but it can be enough to feed himself and others in the camp. He said others who live there often come to him for advice on things and he is often the man tasked with settling disputes within the camp as well.
It’s not the life he expected, but it does give him some feeling of solace to have that role in the camp.
“I guess I do matter in some way,” Giles said.
The lifespan of this small encampment figures to be a short one, however. One of the nearby downtown buildings is in need of plumbing repairs, Giles said, and the water pipes that need to be dug up run right underneath the camp.
Where they will go when the work happens, Giles says he doesn’t know yet.
Shepherd and Giles say they want to the public to know a few things about the people in the camps. They are not looking for handouts but rather “hand ups,” which they say means helping out however you can, whether that means a dollar or two or helping someone find work.
They also say people “would be amazed” at some of the talents and intelligence that resides in the camp.
“I think the perception from the public when they see folks experiencing homelessness or panhandling there is this othering that occurs where we feel uncomfortable or maybe fear those individuals,” Pilgreen said. “I do not think, to my knowledge, that anything that occurs downtown events-wise, business-wise is encumbered because of homelessness.”
Grayeb said he believes Peoria is a city that is striving and is happy to provide homelessness services to those who need them, adding no one can say Peoria “does not care.”
“I believe the people of Peoria have almost a boundless determination to give people a hand up when they need it,” Grayeb said.
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This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Why Downtown Peoria is the center of city homeless services
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