CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) — Homeless outreach nonprofit C-U at Home will be moving clients into its new facility on Mattis Ave in March. Its new facility will serve as a permanent location for its office staff and a home for 26 of its clients.
C-U at Home provides coaching, resources and a place to live for those experiencing homelessness, and looking for stability and change.
Over the years, C-U at Home has been limited by capacity. They have had seven homes where clients can live, spread across the Champaign-Urbana area; its entry-level homes can house a maximum of 16 people. This new facility can house 10 female and 16 male clients, allowing them to increase their capacity by 46%.
C-U at Home Executive Director Melissa Courtwright said the most difficult part of the job is turning people away. Now, they won't have to do that as much.
"They want an opportunity. They want a safe place to live. They want a good job. They want stability, and we offer support and come alongside them as they do that," she said.Â
C-U at Home offers a four-phase program, spanning over a 12 to 18-month period. Clients are assigned their own case manager and are given the help and resources to be able to reach a healthy, stable point in their lives.
In creating the space, Courtwright said they were faced with a problem.
"How do we make this building as homelike as possible? We didn't want it to be a congregate shelter. We didn't want it to feel like an institution. We wanted it to be people's homes," Courtwright said.
Courtwright explained that often, their clients are in a sort of "survival mode " when they enter the program.
"If you are in an environment that keeps you in survival mode, if it's rows of beds, if it feels like you're going to have to fight for resources and it doesn't feel like you know when you're going to be able to get into the shower or do that load of laundry, you don't actually move out of survival mode," she said.Â
The total cost of the renovation of the Mattis location was $1.9 million, with $1.7 million paid for in grants and the rest paid for by donations and fundraising. They are still fundraising to pay for the facility.
C-U at Home is still accepting donations for One Winter Night, and they also have a wishlist with items they need for their new homes.Â
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