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Boulder Hill residents voice opposition to putting overnight warming shelter next to elementary school · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Boulder Hill residents voice opposition to putting overnight warming shelter next to
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  elementary school. Written by Eric Shelkoff. This article is being
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  read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett. Many Boulder
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  Hill subdivision residents packed out the Neighborhood Church of the Brethren on
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  September 24 to speak out against putting an overnight warming shelter in
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  the church, which would serve the unhoused. Their concerns were centered on
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  the church's location next to Oswego School District 308's Boulder
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  Hill Elementary School. Before the meeting Lisa Cook, who heads up the
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  Facebook group Boulder Hill Voices, was in front of the church gathering
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  signatures on a petition against The
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  proposed shelter. It is a safety concern having it next to a
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  school, said Cook, who has two children who attend Boulder will Elementary
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  School. About 450 people have signed the petition, she said Cook said
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  she has lived in Boulder Hill subdivision for 22 years. Boulder Hill,
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  which is in Oswego Township, is the largest unincorporated subdivision in the
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  state. As of July 2021, more than 8,000 people live in the
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  1.45-square-mile subdivision. The nonprofit group Osbegoland Community
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  House is proposing opening the shelter, along with a food pantry and
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  clothes closet. When it is thirty two degrees or less, we will
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  take folks who do not have a place to sleep, said the
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  Reverend Pat Fish, pastor at Becoming As We Go Church. Realistically, we're
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  looking at maybe twenty people. We would pick them up and take
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  the back, so that there is no loitering. Fish is on the
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  board of Oswegoland Community House. As proposed, guests will be required to
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  depart the property each morning, likely at 6 30 AM before students
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  begin arriving for school. To ensure security, plans call for the installation
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  of security cameras around the church, along with having a trained security
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  watch team on duty. In addition, no drugs, alcohol, or weapons will
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  be allowed, and registered sex offenders will not be admitted to the
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  shelter. In talking about the need for the shelter, proponents said an
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  estimated three hundred and forty three people experience homelessness on any given
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  night across the combined region of Kendall, Will and Grundy counties, according
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  to the Will County Continuum of Care. The discussion turned heated, with
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  some in the crowd yelling such phrases as this is our home
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  during Oswegoland Community House's presentation. Nobody in here is against helping, said
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  Boulder Hill resident Martin Ramirez, who also voiced his opposition to the
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  project. I have a nine year old son and an eleven year
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  old daughter, so I am very passionate about what is happening here.
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  It's not what you're doing, it's where you're doing it.