March 23, 2026

Getting housed in Champaign County should not require a miracle – especially if someone has income. But increasingly, finding affordable housing – and especially physically accessible housing for people with mobility impairments – sometimes feels like it requires a miracle. Many homeless individuals in our community have income, but still cannot afford housing.  This situation contributes to the growing crisis of homelessness. It shouldn’t be this way.

A client story – the search for affordable housing: Our clients, an elderly disabled couple whom we will refer to as the Smiths (not their real name), contacted us late last year with a desperate plea for help. The apartment where they had lived for many years was not renewing their lease (for no fault of theirs), and they had nowhere to go despite searching for a new, wheelchair accessible apartment. Despite their best efforts, they were on the brink of homelessness. 

At the time, CCHCC had a small grant to help pay for hotel rooms for individuals experiencing homelessness who are also medically fragile. So the Smiths put their household belongings in storage, and CCHCC put the Smiths up at a hotel for what was supposed to be a two-week stay. CCHCC paid for their hotel room so that they could save enough of their own funds to pay application fees, deposit, and first month’s rent at a new apartment. Two weeks turned into two and a half months. The challenges the Smiths were facing were two-fold: a) finding an apartment they could afford; and b) finding an apartment that was accessible for someone using a wheelchair. CCHCC worked with the Smiths for two and a half months, paying for their hotel room, and helping find leads for apartments. Subsidized senior housing was not an option for the Smiths because of the long waitlists. Finally, at long last, the Smiths were able to move into an affordable and accessible apartment!

Housing is healthcare. Safe, affordable housing is a cornerstone of a thriving and healthy community, and it is a key factor in each person’s health and well-being. For people experiencing homelessness, housing is healthcare. Housing is the foundation from which we build our lives. We spend most of our lives in our homes. The affordability, quality, and stability of our homes is directly linked to our health and well-being. People who experience homelessness have a harder time managing their health – it is harder to keep up with doctors’ appointments, maintain medications, and get preventive and primary care. People experiencing homelessness are more likely to seek care through hospital Emergency Departments, which is the least efficient and most expensive way to manage chronic health conditions. And of course, being homeless is detrimental to one’s health, even if it is for brief periods of time. Studies tell us that individuals experiencing chronic homelessness have lifespans that are 20-30 years shorter than people who are consistently housed.

How much should hosing cost you?  Experts say that housing costs – rent or mortgage, plus utilities – should not cost you more than 30% of your monthly income. At the very most, it should not cost you more than 50% of your monthly income. But 50% is a huge proportion that limits a person or household’s ability to deal with unexpected expenses such as car repairs, etc.

Too many homeless people in our community have incomes, but cannot afford housing. CCHCC has had great success in helping people apply for disability benefits, including individuals experiencing homelessness. Disability benefits provide monthly incomes. One disability benefit program is the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. SSI provides monthly payments to people with disabilities and older adults who have little or no income or resources. But in 2026, SSI provides a maximum monthly federal payment of $994 per month for an individual, and $1,491 for a couple.

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February 10, 2026

The end of January each year marks my birthday, followed by my anniversary of when I started working at CCHCC.

This year, I have just turned 60 years old, and marked my 29^th anniversary of being on staff at CCHCC. I feel so deeply grateful to have landed in this community and at this amazing organization!

Next year, CCHCC will be celebrating our 50^th anniversary! And I will be celebrating my 30^th anniversary with the organization. It is amazing to think of this!

The work we do at CCHCC is difficult, and never more so than right now as healthcare and housing and public benefits are being eroded right before our eyes. All too often, we are encountering clients who are in very desperate situations or who are experiencing crises. 

But every single day at CCHCC, we are doing the work that transforms people’s lives, and I could not be more proud of our organization and the amazing staff members I get to work with every day, and our very supportive Board Members.

As an example of how the work we do transforms people’s lives, I want to share a client story with you from Ashley Buckley, our staff member who helps homeless individuals qualify for Medicaid and SNAP. Ashley goes far beyond her job description and often ends up helping homeless individuals apply for housing opportunities, helping them complete applications and navigate the housing “system” in order to reduce the barriers they might encounter if they are left to do it on their own.

Please see Ashley’s story below:

“I met J when I was tabling at the Daily Bread. He is a very kind men who needed assistance with housing and had been referred to several places for assistance, but was confused on where to start. He just turned 56 and was looking for senior housing. I invited J to come to the office when he had time and I would help him go through applications that would place him on the waitlist for several subsidized housing locations. Typically, it’s difficult to get people in to the office after meeting with them at Daily Bread, but he showed up later that evening and had his ID and SSI information ready to share. I could tell that he had a long day, but he was still smiling and happy to get the assistance that he needed.

We went through several applications, and he needed assistance reading some of the documentation and filling out the information, which I was happy to help with. After we finished I gave him additional resources to other locations, such as Promise Healthcare and PACE. He had a knee that had been bothering him, and sleeping on friends ’ sofas or at the shelter had caused it to swell and become more painful. He declined any emergency services and said that he would manage.

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“They gave me hope again. You’re next!” – Mr. S

December 10, 2025

2025 has been a brutal year, and more pain is ahead as people face the prospect of losing benefits that are essential to their daily lives and survival. The partisan budget bill (the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”) that was passed and signed into law on July 4, 2025 is already causing harm and chaos nationally, and in our own community, with much worse to come. 

But Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) is on the front lines, delivering the services that are essential for the lives and well-being of our community members, and advocating and organizing against harmful federal policies.

Over the years, CCHCC has grown in our ability and expertise to help community members from diverse backgrounds enroll in a wide variety of health insurance and public programs because we saw the need for these services in our community. CCHCC is the only organization in Champaign County that can help enroll community members in all forms of health insurance – whether that be Medicaid, Marketplace, or Medicare and Medicare-related programs. Beyond health insurance, CCHCC also helps with public benefits such as Medicare Extra Help, Medicare Savings, SNAP, Township General Assistance, LIHEAP, hospital financial assistance, and Disability benefits (SSI and SSDI). And, our services are free! 

Among the most vulnerable in our community are people who literally have nothing – no home, no income, no regular healthcare, no food, no support. The lives of people in these circumstances can be improved! But it takes hard work, special skills and knowledge, and the ability to establish trust with people who are disenfranchised. CCHCC does this work every day, in our office and out in the community.

This client story from Babatunde, CCHCC’s Director of Health & Disability Policy, gives a small window into the work that we do: “I began working with Mr. S in April. He had already applied for Social Security Disability benefits five times before, all unsuccessfully. By the time he reached out to our office, he was completely discouraged. He openly expressed that he had zero hope and was already mentally preparing for yet another appeal before we had even submitted anything.

Despite his doubts, we moved forward with his case. I worked closely with him to gather the necessary documentation, build a strong application, and ensure every detail was in place. This month, Mr. S was approved for SSI, and he received a significant backpay award.

When he got the news, he was in disbelief. He kept repeating how he never thought he would be approved, and that this was truly going to be his last attempt. The approval has not only brought him financial relief, but it has also restored his hope.

In fact, he was so moved by the outcome that he immediately referred his best friend, who is also in need of SSI support, to our office. He told his friend, ‘They gave me hope again. You’re next.’

It’s moments like this that remind me of the impact our work has—not just on individual clients, but on the people and communities connected to them. What began as a case filled with discouragement and doubt turned into a powerful reminder of the importance of persistence, compassion, and support.”

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December 02, 2025

There is a feature in today’s The News-Gazette on page B3 where some community members were asked for their comments about “What to do with Strides?”

CCHCC’s Executive Director, Claudia Lennhoff, was asked to submit comments on behalf of CCHCC.

You can read her comments below.

The News-Gazette – Tuesday, December 2, 2025 – “The Great Debate: What to do with Strides?”

Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) would like to see the Strides shelter continue because it is a vital resource in our community. But Strides needs robust funding to meet its staffing needs and its monthly expenses.

Without the Strides shelter, the number of unsheltered homeless individuals would increase dramatically.  More people would suffer from the devastating effects of being unsheltered, and the community impact would be immense. The strain on our social services systems, first responders, hospital ERs, food banks, public health, and the locations where people might try to shelter themselves overnight would be devastating.

Closing Strides would not make the increasing problem of homelessness go away. It would just make it much worse.

The number one cause of homelessness in our community, and around the nation, is the cost of housing. We need far more affordable housing than what we have in our community. In fact, part of the crowding and overflow at Strides is due to this fact alone. CCHCC works closely with Strides and we have helped many of the Strides residents apply for, and be approved for disability benefits. But due to the lack of affordable housing in our community, individuals who are homeless but who do have income from disability benefits, cannot overcome the financial barriers to housing. And that is why there is a “bottle neck” at Strides in terms of people being able to move out of the shelter and into their own housing. The lack of truly affordable housing in our community is, in and of itself, having a devastating impact on the Strides shelter because people who are ready to be housed simply cannot find housing they can afford.

Unfortunately, the lack of affordable housing is about to get much worse, as the Trump Administration is calling for states to slash the numbers of people who are receiving housing vouchers through programs like the Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) vouchers. These PSH vouchers help pay the difference in rent between what the tenant can afford and what the market rate for rent is. The federal government is telling communities that they will have to reduce the use of housing vouchers down to a third or less. This means that currently housed people who are using PSH vouchers might end up losing their homes, as landlords lose income from the vouchers. This is a recipe for disaster and tragedy, and local communities will be left picking up the pieces.

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