BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) — The Bridge Project is on track to be completed by the middle of December, giving the homeless a place to get out of the cold.
The Bridge Project is a non-congregate shelter for the homeless. The effort is led by Home Sweet Home Ministries in Bloomington.
The shelter will provide a place to sleep, bathe and socialize for 48 homeless members of the community. It is located just south of downtown Bloomington, crossing the actual bridge as you exit downtown.
“It’s always exciting to be able to say we’re in the middle of construction and we’re on schedule, so we’re very excited about that. Right now, they’re finishing the construction of the sleeping cabins at one location,” said Matt Burgess, CEO of Home Sweet Home Ministries.
“We’re about to start painting those interiors here in the next week or so. And then the cabins will start to be transported on site the week following.”
The shelter is meant to serve as a middle ground for homeless people, giving them the resources needed to make that change in their lives and find housing of their own.
Residents will only be staying for four to six months, HSHM plans, but are ready to accommodate more complicated cases.
“We expect that to take a little bit longer than what we currently experience in our existing shelter. The people that we will be focusing on serving in the bridge are the people in our community, our neighbors, who have the most complex situations to deal with. Naturally, we expect that to just take a little bit longer than it takes us with people with less complex situations,” Burgess said.
On the site, the shelter will include 48 sleeping cabins, a bathhouse, a clubhouse and onsite professionals. Services include mental health and substance use treatment and services, health care, housing services and employment services. Having everything someone recovering may need will decrease the time it takes for them to recover.
“This is really a significant change in the paradigm of how we are providing services in this community. Rather than have somebody go here for one service and there for another service,” he said. “We’re doing as much as we can to bring all of those services and supports into one location where somebody is already residing so that we can really significantly change the level of engagement that people have with the support services.
Sleep cabins are being built off-site, at the old Clay-Dooley building, a few blocks away from the project. Everything from the foundation, to paint, to windows and doors will be built here and transferred to the site in the coming weeks. Foundations for the cabins are already set at the site and ready to receive the homes.
Local businesses in the Twin Cities, like Carpet Weavers and Habitat for Humanity, have donated carpet and gallons of paint, respectively, to help aid in the build process and take some of the financial burden of HSHM.
“We have a lot of painting to do, so we’re looking for donations of painting supplies. We got the paint donated. Now we need the rollers, we need the brushes, we need the drop claws, we need all of that sort of stuff to help us be able to do that, so people can donate items that we need either to help with the construction process,” Burgess said.
Walls for the clubhouse and bathhouse are being built now. Plumbing and electrical are also in the works, preparing for the arrival of the cabins.
While HSHM has received many donations, they are still looking to hit its $750,000 goal for this fundraiser. Currently, they are only $150,000 away from that goal.
“Donate to our Build the Bridge campaign is an important part of supporting Home Sweet Home Ministries in our efforts to do this. It’s in line with how we’ve always been supported. We are supported by our community. And so that remains one of the important ways that folks from across the community can help us,” he said.
If monetary donations are not in the cards, giving your time or supplies to help aid with the building process is also welcome. You can do so on their website.
“We have other volunteer projects that they can help us with, with clearing some of the brush around the fence line that we’re going to have to replace different things like that, that people could contact us, sign up to volunteer and help us on any variety of projects at the bridge or in our other programs,” he said.
This project, although helpful, is not the solution to the homeless population in the community. It is only one piece of the giant puzzle needed to do so.
“I emphasize that the bridge is part of a long-term solution. It is not in and of itself by itself, the solution to unsheltered homelessness in our community, but it’s an important piece of the puzzle. We also have to commit to ensuring that affordable and supportive housing is available for people who are lower income, who are dealing with issues, who are maybe coming out of homelessness,” he said.
“We have to commit to that type of housing being available in our community if we want to really solve homelessness as we understand it to be.”
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