SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - The Springfield City Council will cast a final vote to decide on a $1.2 million ordinance for a homeless shelter in the city.
 
The plan for how to allocate the funding for this shelter was led by the Heartland Continuum of Care, which prioritized long-term solutions and not just the immediate need of a shelter.
 
"The initial ordinance made $600,000 available each year and the counter proposal asks for just over $400,000 and really what that recognizes is that we want to continue to work with the city as a partner to help to build out some of those supportive housing programs," said coordinator Josh Sabo.
 
The plan, which hopes to end homelessness in the next five years, will focus more resources on long-term solutions and agencies working to help solve the issue.
 
"A lot of times our agencies are under-resourced and so that's also a part of what we're trying to address here. We know that the system to address homelessness in our community has to expand so some of our recommendations are designed to help that become possible," said Sabo.
 
City leaders like Mayor Jim Langfelder said the shelter will help in the upcoming winter months, but long-term solutions like those detailed in the plan will be the way to fix the problem.
 
"That will take the outreach services that really engage the individual, what their situation is, what are their needs and how can we help with our community," Langfelder said. "We're looking forward to moving towards this type of initiative with knowing it's only temporary and gearing up for a more permanent solution."
 
Sabo also said he's glad the community has been so invested in fixing the problem and that they will stay that way.
 
"Our proposal recognizes that emergency shelter alone doesn't end homelessness and as a community we really have to invest in supportive housing if we are going to get to functional zero and effectively end homelessness for our community," Sabo said. 
 

If the funding is approved, it will take about four to six weeks to get the overflow shelter staffed and trained.