A nonprofit's plan to open an overnight warming shelter in Boulder Hill has been scaled back to focus on unhoused women and families with children, after weeks of resident pushback over its proposed location next to an elementary school. Oswegoland Community House revised the proposal so that individual adult men would generally no longer be eligible to stay overnight, a shift that follows a packed public meeting and a growing petition drive against the plan.
Under the latest version of the proposal, the shelter would serve individual adult women and families with dependent children, according to shawlocal.com. Adult men would be eligible only if they are a parent or legal guardian within an eligible family household, the outlet reports, while individual adult men without dependent children in their care would not be eligible for overnight accommodations at all.
Oswegoland Community House has framed the change as a direct response to community input. According to seed reporting from CBS Chicago, the organization said in a social media post that it took in neighbors' concerns and gathered more information before deciding the shelter would serve only women and families with dependent children after hearing from neighbors. The nonprofit also said homelessness already exists in Kendall County and warned that when resources become harder to access, more neighbors may be left without somewhere to turn, per the same CBS Chicago report.
Why Residents Pushed Back
The proposed site is the Neighborhood Church of the Brethren, which sits next door to Oswego School District 308's Boulder Hill Elementary School. Residents' concerns centered squarely on that proximity, the shawlocal.com report notes, and on Sept. 24 residents packed the church to speak out against the overnight warming shelter, according to the same outlet.
CBS Chicago's original reporting similarly found that Boulder Hill residents and neighbors in surrounding suburbs raised safety concerns about locating an overnight warming center so close to the elementary school. A petition opposing the shelter had about 450 signatures as of Sept. 24, per shawlocal.com's report from that date, though a separate account from The Center Square put the petition at roughly 283 signatures when it was submitted to Kendall County, later growing to about 550 signatures.
What the Shelter Would and Wouldn't Allow
As originally proposed, the nonprofit planned to start providing emergency overnight shelter for the unhoused starting in November, opening on nights when temperatures drop to 32 degrees or colder, CBS Chicago reported. Guests would be connected with health care, given food, and offered mental health services, housing resources and other support, the station's report states. The Center Square's reporting adds that the shelter was initially described as serving about 20 people, with the potential to eventually accommodate as many as 40.
Oswegoland Community House has said it will establish clear safety procedures at the shelter. All adults staying there would be screened against the sex offender registry, and shelter staff would inspect personal belongings, per the CBS Chicago report. The shelter would also prohibit weapons, alcohol and drug paraphernalia, and shawlocal.com separately reports that drugs would not be allowed and registered sex offenders would not be admitted.
Trained volunteers would supervise overnight operations and have training in de-escalation and homelessness, according to CBS Chicago. The shelter plan also calls for maintaining ongoing communication with the Kendall County Sheriff's Office.
Still Undecided at the Church
Whether the shelter opens at the Neighborhood Church of the Brethren at all remains up in the air, shawlocal.com reports, with church officials currently surveying parishioners about the proposal as of Oct. 11. Oswego Township officials have said the township has no jurisdiction over the proposal at this time, with Kendall County's Planning, Building and Zoning Department and the Oswego Fire Protection District instead handling any zoning or permit matters, per the same outlet.
Oswegoland Community House has said it believes the community needs a bigger conversation about the issue, according to CBS Chicago's reporting. The nonprofit's outreach comes as an estimated 343 people experience homelessness on any given night across Kendall, Will and Grundy counties, according to the Will County Continuum of Care, which separately notes that its Coordinated Entry System helps assess people for permanent housing but does not address immediate crises — meaning those who need a place to stay that night are directed to contact an emergency shelter instead.
