March 27, 2025

CCHCC is urging Champaign residents to vote YES for the City of Champaign Township Tax Referendum. The following Guest Commentary by CCHCC’s Executive Director, Claudia Lennhoff, ran in The News-Gazette on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. Please also see the WCIA TV interview on the same topic. 

 
For a relative small amount of money – about $5 more per month on a $100,000 home – Champaign residents can support the City of Champaign Township, which provides General Assistance and Rental Assistance to Champaign residents, and also operates the Strides Shelter. The City of Champaign Township also includes the Township Assessor’s office, which is currently understaffed.
 
Please vote YES on the property tax referendum on the ballot for residents of the City of Champaign.
 
The City of Champaign Township’s current tax levy is extremely low at 0.0296%. By comparison, the levy for Cunningham Township (in the city of Urbana) is about ten times greater at 0.3015%, and Decatur Township’s levy is even higher at 0.3527%.
 
The City of Champaign Township property tax levy will help fund vital services provided to Champaign residents, including rental assistance to prevent evictions, and General Assistance to provide financial support to residents with disabilities while they are applying for Disability income from SSI and/or SSDI – a grueling process that can take a very long time. The Township property tax will also help fund additional personnel for the Township Assessor’s Office, which will help support timely and fair property tax assessments for Champaign residents. Lastly, but not least, the property tax levy will help support the Strides Shelter, which is currently understaffed and at risk of closing due to lack of adequate funding.
 
Strides Shelter opened in 2023, thanks to a $750,000 ARPA grant provided by the City of Urbana. Other local governmental bodies, including the Champaign County Mental Health Board, also contribute to services provided at Strides by funding various nonprofit organizations that deliver services there. While Strides Shelter is located in Champaign, a tremendous amount of financial support for the services provided there come from other funding streams. Many non-profits collaborate to try to help Strides clients get back on their feet, while Strides provides the shelter they need.
 
For example, Champaign County Health Care Consumers works with the Strides Shelter and their clients on a daily basis, helping clients access needed healthcare, get health insurance and food stamps, qualify for housing vouchers; and get help applying for disability benefits.
 
Most of the people who stay at the Strides Shelter are from our local community and, sadly, an increasing proportion of Strides clients are seniors. Many Strides residents ended up homeless as a result of a serious illness or accident, or the death of a family member. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have family or friends who can take them in, or resources to help them weather the storm of a serious crisis.
 
If the tax referendum fails, and the Strides Shelter is forced to close, individuals struggling with homelessness will still be around. Closing the shelter does not mean that homeless people go away. Where will they stay? Where will they seek shelter? What will they have to do to survive?
 
If the tax referendum fails and the Strides Shelter is forced to close, people will suffer and die prematurely. People experiencing chronic homelessness have life spans that are 30 years shorter than people who have homes. I myself cannot bear this thought. It keeps me up at night.
 
But this is not just a humanitarian issue – it is a financial issue.
 
Not funding the Township through this referendum will not result in cost savings for anyone. The cost of homelessness will show up in other ways. Cities pay a steep price for homelessness – especially for unsheltered individuals. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a person experiencing chronic homelessness costs the city an average of $46,000 a year in increased police, fire, public health, public works, and other services. If homeless individuals have no shelter, they live sicker, sustain more injuries, seek shelter and warmth wherever and however they can, and use the hospital Emergency Rooms at a far greater rate than someone who is housed, and their hospital stays are significantly longer. The health system impacts will affect all of us.
 
There is a better way forward.
 
Please vote YES for the City of Champaign Township referendum.

Submitted by:

Claudia Lennhoff
Executive Director
Champaign County Health Care Consumers