Champaign City Council approves $400,000 for new C-U at Home shelter

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) - A new homeless shelter is coming to Champaign.

The Champaign City Council voted Tuesday to give C-U at Home more than $400,000 to build a mid-barrier shelter on South Mattis Avenue.

C-U would convert an office building into a 14-room shelter with 26 beds, and the shelter would have transitional services to help get its clients back on their feet.

Champaign Mayor Deborah Feinen said she is concerned that projects like these could be at-risk because of proposed changes in the federal government to "Community Development Block Grant" funds.

"As of right now, CDBG has been fully funded, but the president's proposal was $0 for CDBG. So if you look at the kind of things that we do with these funds, I encourage anybody who's watching to reach out to Congress," Feinen said.

The $1.7 million project is also being paid for by grant funds from the Champaign County Opioid Task Force, the Department of Commerce and Economic Development, and Urbana's Home Consortium.