BELLEVILLE — Belleville City Council members are scheduled to vote at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, on a winter safety plan that would provide overnight shelter at the McCormick Center at the Cathedral of St. Peter within the Catholic Diocese for people with no place to go when temperatures fall to 20 degrees or below.
The plan is intended to protect people on the coldest winter nights and address safety concerns in the city, according to Kara Moore, a social worker who is chairwoman of the Emergency Weather Oversight Executive Committee.
“The city has had an ongoing problem of having desperate people breaking into abandoned homes and upsetting the neighbors,” Moore said. “A homeless man died in a fire in an abandoned house about a couple of years ago. Our volunteers will give these people a safe, warm place for the night. This center is an answer for everyone in the city.”
The Catholic Diocese of Belleville has offered the McCormick Center, 301 N. First St., to house the winter program. Cots provided by the city’s General Assistance Program would be placed in the building’s gymnasium, and refreshments would be provided.
Moore said the Emergency Weather Overnight Center is needed in Belleville.
“Belleville is the most populated city in Illinois south of Springfield,” Moore said, “This Emergency Weather Overnight Center is needed. We hope other cities in the area do what they can to keep people without housing in their communities safe, too.”
Moore said people who stay at the center would be screened and transported to and from the building with help from the Salvation Army. She said the plan includes safety measures for people using the center and for neighbors.
“We will screen people who stay there and give them transportation to and from the building with the help of the Salvation Army,” Moore said. “Our plan takes every precaution for the safety of everyone in the building and the neighbors. We will have a security guard. Nobody will be allowed to just drop in. They will have to go through channels.”
