After an unsuccessful day of trying to find work, Isaiah Little ate his dinner in the homeless shelter where he lives, as he has for nearly 9 months. Little has been homeless since last July, when he was released from the care of the Department of Children and Family Services. DCFS did not prepare him for life in the real world, though, he said.

“When it comes to a person who’s homeless, a lot of people are … (thinking) either they’re something along the lines of worthless or they just aren’t trying,” Little said. “The truth is they are trying. They’re reaching out, trying to seek help and if people don’t actually take the time to listen, how are the ones who are looking for help going to get the help?”

The preliminary results of a recent survey commissioned by the Regional Housing Task Force, jointly commissioned by the cities of Urbana and Champaign and Champaign County, counted 201 homeless individuals in Urbana.

Resources for the homeless, such as shelters and soup kitchens, may not be meeting these needs.

Shawn Lewis, 26, has been homeless for the past two weeks. From Memphis, he came to Urbana with his brother, wife and son for a divorce trial but did not have enough money to return home.

Though Lewis said he has sought help at many places, including the Salvation Army, St. Jude’s Catholic Worker House and the TIMES Center, none of these institutions could help him with his situation. He and his family have been unable to find a shelter that will house his entire family — as most serve one sex only — so they have mostly been staying in campus buildings.

Jason Greenly, supervisor for the TIMES Center, a men’s homeless shelter, said the center tries to help as many people as it can to their best effort. The TIMES Center provides homeless men with food, shelter and emergency needs, but it cannot control the greater causes of homelessness, such as lack of affordable housing and job availability, he said.

Instead, Greenly said, the center tries to help its clients overcome roadblocks, such as drug addiction and difficulty in finding a source of income.

Respondents to a recent Urbana-Champaign survey also cited personal hardships, such as inability to pay bills, mental or physical disability, substance abuse or domestic violence, as the main reasons for chronic homelessness.

“When (patrons) leave here, they have the few thousand dollars they need to start life,” he said.

There are 1,449 substandard housing units in Urbana, according to the Regional Housing Task Force study. Substandard housing is defined as either mobile housing, vacant or rundown housing, or housing lacking plumbing or kitchen facilities.

Betty Sayles and Lavon Sayles occupy one such unit. They unknowingly bought a house that has been condemned by the city and has 47 citations against it.

Because they lack the appliances to do so, they cannot cook in their home. The Sayles’ often eat meals at soup kitchens, including one at the TIMES Center and another at the New Covenant Fellowship Church, called the Daily Bread.

Most resources for the homeless exist solely in the city of Champaign, Betty Sayles said. Despite coming to Urbana to be closer to relatives, the couple said they have no other housing option, and their relatives do not provide them any support.

“We have nowhere else to go,” Betty Sayles said.