Boulder Hill, Illinois, residents concerned about overnight shelter coming this winter
A community meeting was underway Thursday evening in southwest suburban Boulder Hill, with neighbors voicing concerns about a new overnight emergency shelter serving the unhoused coming to their community.
The warming shelter would be open on nights when temperatures drop to 32° or colder.
Darlene Miller has called Boulder Hill home for decades. She's among the people in Boulder Hill who have posted signs on their front lawns saying, "STOP HOMELESS SHELTERS NEAR OUR SCHOOLS."
"If this wasn't so important to me, I wouldn't be in front of this camera," Miller said. "This is in a community, right in the middle of a community, this church is. It's right by a school."
The church where the unhoused would receive overnight shelter during the winter, Neighborhood Church of the Brethren, is located next door to Boulder Hill Elementary School. Neighbors said they learned about the effort through social media and started a petition to stop it.
"We do have a park nearby that the kids use for recess, or other locations that people could be walking, and residents are worried about security for that," Lisa Cook said.
Boulder Hill Elementary was made aware of the proposed overnight shelter about a month ago.
"It would begin its operations in the evening after school is over, after our after school program is out, is dismissed, and that they would have left the property prior to students arriving here for the morning," Community Unit School District 308 chief communication officer Theresa Komitas said.
The nonprofit Oswegoland Community House has proposed to start providing emergency overnight shelter for the unhoused starting in November, when temperatures reach 32°. Those coming to the shelter would be connected with healthcare; given food; and offered mental health services, housing resources, and other support.
Niya Kelly with the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness offered insight into the placement of shelters within communities.
"If I had the opportunity to talk to folks, and for them to hear me, I would say, 'Think about your neighbor, think about yourself, think about your cousin, your sibling who may have come on hard times and needs a warm place to stay and social services to get back on their feet,'" she said.
Neighbors said they plan to make their concerns heard at the community meeting taking place at the church that will serve as a warming shelter.
Oswegoland Community House and Neighborhood Church of the Brethren did not respond to requests for comment.
