Illinois city shuts down crowded homeless shelter

When did it become a crime to help people?

City officials in the city of Rockford, Illinois have put a stop to a local church sheltering the homeless on those winter nights when it’s just too cold to sleep outside.

Apostolic Pentecostal Church knows that a warm shelter could make the difference between life and death for those who are homeless, which is why they opened their doors on winter nights as refuge from the cold.

But the city was having none of it.

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Citing zoning violations and fire safety hazards, city officials shut down the operation to keep people warm, warning that continuing to act as a shelter is ‘illegal.’

Even with a number of other shelter options such as the Rockford Rescue Mission and the Shelter Care Ministry, there would be people sleeping on and around the pews during the winter to escape the cold.

“To me, people are first,” Theresa Frederick of the Apostolic Pentecostal Church told WIFR News. She believes that there would have been a lot of people who would not be here today if it wasn’t for the church. She believes they saved lives.

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Even with a 4% decline in homelessness in the United States last year, there are still 610,042 people who are homeless on any given night, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 35% of whom literally have to sleep in the streets … and Illinois can have some seriously cold winters.

“The people that came to the center have feelings just like everyone else and they need their necessities: Food, water, shelter, and love,” said Thomas Stirling, an employee at the church.

The church hopes to re-open its doors to the homeless again soon, as the warm weather seems to be nowhere in sight.

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