Phoenix Community Development Services Completes Apartment Building to Serve Homeless People

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) – Ending homelessness for 24 community members in central Illinois on Friday, Phoenix Community Development Services completed its new housing center in Peoria.

The organization is constructing a four-story building with 24 one-bedroom apartments on NE Madison Avenue.

The facility will provide permanent accommodation for people experiencing homelessness. It will include tenants’ amenities and commercial offices on the first level.

$ 5.5 million from the Illinois Housing Development Authority is helping make the project possible.

Leaders said they were excited to take another step towards ending homelessness.

“We just keep looking for ways to create more housing to fill the void. So it’s really amazing to be a part of it, but we still have a long way to go, we’re not done, ”said Christine Kahl, president of Phoenix Community Development Services.

Kahl also says that the most recent market research also shows that there is a need for 11,000 affordable housing units in Peoria, but there are currently less than 4,000.

“The lack of affordable housing is the root cause of homelessness, and this need is far greater than the homeless population alone. Certainly with the COVID pandemic we are seeing more and more people on the verge of losing their homes because they just can’t afford it, ”Kahl said.

The building next to the apartments will also be transformed into a workforce development center.

The building is expected to be completed in early February.