What is Fortitude’s future in Kankakee?

A permit request to allow for a night shelter at the Fortitude Community Outreach site in East Kankakee could play a key role in what the agency’s future is here.

Fortitude Community Outreach, an organization dedicated to helping the homeless in Kankakee County, is seeking a conditional use permit to operate a shelter care facility, basically a night shelter.

Fortitude is a week or two away from completing renovations to the building’s first floor, set to include 18 beds to sleep in and a commercial kitchen for food service.

“We’ve been providing services outside of the new building to our guests during the day for the last year and haven’t had any problems there,” said Dawn Broers, Fortitude’s executive director.

“I know our aldermen there in the 1st Ward really wanted to see that we could be in this location without causing a disruption to the neighborhood, and we’ve been able to show that,” Broers said.

However, the Kankakee City Council and city leadership are concerned that the request for this 1st Ward location permit has had a major step skipped by Fortitude.

“I’m for having a place for the homeless, but not a shelter at this location,” said 1st Ward Alderperson Cherry Malone Marshall.

She does not appear to be alone with this opinion. Her 1st Ward seatmate, Michael Prude, has also expressed night shelter concerns.

This week will be crucial for the future of Fortitude, which is attempting to create its home at the former Kankakee County Health Department office, 970 E. Court St.

Fortitude plans to begin operating overnight shelter services there in the fall and end the use of the Night Fort emergency bus shelter.

At issue is what can be labeled as the second step of a three-step process.

City leadership is somewhat perplexed regarding the plans set to come before the Kankakee Planning Board at its 7 p.m. Tuesday meeting in the Kankakee City Council chambers.

Fortitude leadership will be requesting a conditional use permit to operate an overnight shelter.

City concerns

City leadership had been under the belief that establishing some form of day services would be the next step, not an overnight shelter operating from a 5:30 p.m. sign-in time to 8 a.m. discharge.

Kankakee Mayor Chris Curtis has concerns, serious concerns.

Curtis said the Kankakee Public Library is already being inundated with people seeking shelter during the daytime. He wonders what may happen with the people during the daytime after they have spent the night in a Fortitude-provided bed.

“This is a lot more complicated than just providing night service. ... Our library has become a shelter,” he said. “It seems they have gone right past day services.”

Curtis, Malone Marshall, along with 2nd Ward Alderman Dave Baron, all agreed there is a need for shelter for those experiencing homelessness.

“I do not approve of this,” Malone Marshall flatly said. “I will not approve a permit for a night shelter at this location [now]. Let’s see how day services function first before we consider a night shelter.”

Baron said there seems to be a difference in understanding regarding daytime functions. However, he said, council members have been under the belief that whatever would transpire at the site during daylight hours would have been the location’s second step.

Top priority: Night shelter

Melissa King, Kankakee planning director, did note that day services operations do not need a special permit.

Broers noted there’s a distinction between day services, which involve scheduled appointments for guests during the day, and day sheltering, which would mean being open for guests all day, every day.

Broers said day sheltering would cost at least another $125,000 in labor and food.

“That just isn’t in the budget nor in available grant funding for right now,” she said. “Overnight services is the first priority for us. We need to get that solid, established, and then we can look at how we can be a part of day sheltering.”

Baron indicated this entire process may have gone better had Fortitude presented its plans for the East Court location to the board before the location was purchased, rather than after.

“We are willing to take steps to address these types of issues, but we are not going to take all the steps,” he said.

In other words, Baron said other communities must open their doors to those seeking to offer these services.

Curtis agreed while noting Kankakee is already home to homeless or social services such as Harbor House (a domestic violence shelter), the South Washington Avenue homeless veterans’ apartment building and the Gift of God shelter along North Fifth Avenue.

Regarding locating in Kankakee, Broers said it is best practice, from an ethical standpoint, to locate services where people need them.

Kankakee is the county seat, the largest city in the county and the place where most low-income individuals reside. Fortitude’s new building also sits across the street from public transportation and within walking distance of other agencies and downtown services.

“I understand that Kankakee does not want to be the one municipality that has all these services,” Broers said. “It just is a reality that [this] is the right place for them to be located.”

Curtis said he is also keenly interested in what those who neighbor the East Court location think of this use. He hopes to learn more on Tuesday.

If a vote is taken on Tuesday, the matter would still need council approval. Any action by the city council would likely not take place until Sept. 2 at the earliest.

Broers said the local continuum of care, or the network of agencies that provide services to the area’s homeless, is planning a feasibility study on a potential collaboration on day sheltering.

“The hope would be, as a community of providers, that we, all of us, not just Fortitude, will be able to offer day sheltering within the near future,” she said.

In preparation for seeking the conditional-use permit, Broers said Fortitude has been connecting with the city’s alderpeople and meeting with those who’ve been willing to meet to discuss its plans.

It seems everyone on the council she has spoken with has different reasons why they might not be ready to support the overnight shelter, she said.

So, she has done her best to provide city officials with information on Fortitude’s services and answers to common concerns and questions in advance of Tuesday’s meeting.

“Our hope, of course, is that the city council will choose to have an overnight shelter this winter, rather than not have an overnight shelter this winter,” Broers said. “That’s ultimately what it comes down to.”