SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - COVID-19 has impacted everyone, even the homeless population. With limited resources available, people without homes in Springfield decided to create their own community.

Julie Benson of Helping the Homeless said the area has been dubbed "tent city."

"I'm not sure it's the best solution, but it might be the only solution for some people," Benson said.

On the corner of 11th and Madison Street, homeless people have set up tents in the empty lot next to the city's cooling and warming center. Over the past few weeks, Benson said more and more tents have been popping up.

"It started with just a couple tents behind the building," Benson said. "Last count was just a couple days ago, and it was between 37 and 40 tents over there."

According to Benson, the people living in "tent city" have access to showers, the city's cooling center, food, and they obviously have a place to sleep at night in their tents.

"We're offering a lot of services considering what they were getting before," Benson said. "Because there were so many people over there, we had to evolve to accommodate that many people."

The word of these small luxuries has quickly spread, attracting more people to "tent city."

"I can tell you that probably in the last month or so, I've seen a lot more new faces," Benson said.

According to Benson, some of the people residing in the tents are not from Springfield, but rather different areas across the state.

"I have heard several of them say they're from Chicago," Benson said. "Somebody came from Litchfield. Maybe one or two of them are from St. Louis."

With winter quickly approaching, the city is having to plan its next steps. Benson said when the winter warming center opens up, the tents will have to come down.

"Because of lack of space, when people pack up and go into a warming center, they are not going to be able to bring a tent, or a couple of suitcases or a blow up mattress into that facility," Benson said.

According to Benson, someone will have to come and clean up the items left behind.

"Somebody's going to have to deal with the the couch that got delivered, and the rocking chair and all the clothes that are getting dropped off," Benson said. "I don't know where all the tents will be stored or the air mattresses."

Benson said the long-term solution for people living in "tent city" is permanent housing, but for now, Benson said she's happy they have somewhere to sleep.

"It's a community with a lot of heartache, a lot of problems," Benson said. "Some of them lost hope. They've got medical problems. They're just vulnerable all the time."