As cool autumn weather is returning and the calendar is flipping to October – the traditional start for Fortitude Community Outreach’s shelter season – there are no plans to restart the bus shelter program.

Despite maintaining ownership of the bus, which had been transformed into a 19-bed mobile shelter, Fortitude leadership has no plans to use it for a third year.

Dawn Broers, Fortitude’s director, reiterated this week that the bus, which had been used for the past two shelter seasons, will not be put back into service.

She said a conditional use permit would be needed to operate it within Kankakee, and Fortitude does not have such a permit.

Kankakee Mayor Chris Curtis said the use of mobile shelter is up to Fortitude, but noted Broers’ is incorrect in stating a conditional use permit is necessary.

He said the use of the bus does not require a permit. He said only a temporary use permit would be needed, and the city would need to know where the bus would be parked.

“The statement that a conditional use permit is needed is absolutely false,” he said. “She would only need to fill out a form. She only needs a registration, very much like what a food truck needs.”

The permit debate appears to be a wasted conversation. Broers said Fortitude is actively looking to sell the bus.

“Use of the bus is off the table,” she said late this week. “We will not be able to provide overnight shelter unless there is a change in permitting” at the organization’s East Court Street location.

The bus, she said, requires repairs, and its former maintenance person is no longer available. She noted the repairs had not been part of the organization’s budget.

Broers maintained that Fortitude will continue to offer other services at 907 E. Court St., but not overnight shelter.

She said those in need will still be able to eat, shower, wash clothing, receive case management and access services.

However, when the evening hours arrive, likely 5 or 5:30 p.m., the location will be closed and those at the shelter will be emptied.

“We are not closing. We just are not having that (overnight) service,” she said.

It was at the Sept. 15 Kankakee City Council meeting when council members voted 12-0 against Fortitude’s conditional use permit request to operate a shelter at its new East Court Street location.

While Kankakee has been painted by many as being unkind to the homeless, Curtis said Kankakee is home to Kankakee’s only two homeless shelters, the Gift of God program on North Fifth Avenue and Liberty Lodge, a 14-unit apartment along South Washington Avenue operated by the Kankakee County Housing Authority.

“We are the only one (Kankakee County municipality) who have allowed for homeless shelters,” he said. “We are the only one helping. The only one.”

Fortitude has been seeking to establish a permanent shelter for several years.

The East Court location is the third attempt. Funding and zoning issues derailed previous locations on North Washington Avenue and South Fourth Avenue.

The city council’s vote against the conditional use permit followed the Kankakee Planning Board’s unanimous approval of the request.

Broers said the council’s vote is still hard to accept. Heading into the city council chambers that night, she was confident the permit would be granted.

“It’s devastating. I’m shocked,” she said of the vote. “I did not think it was going to go that way. It’s a shame. It’s a lose-lose for everyone.”