Man Who Invites Homeless People To His Home During Freezing Temperatures Threatened By City Officials

Image: George Hodan

Originnaly published on boingboing.net

A man in Elgin, IL who invites homeless people to spend the night at his house during brutally cold weather must stop his generous charity immediately or face consequences. City officials threatened to condemn his house if he continues to have homeless "slumber parties."

When the winter weather turned dangerously cold and not enough shelters were available, resident Greg Schiller offered his house to homeless people, making sure they didn't bring in any drugs or alcohol. He offered them food, hot drinks, movies and cots for the night. But authorities – who didn't offer any alternative solutions – didn't like it.

According to NBC:

Last winter, Schiller offered up his garage to area homeless, but said he was told he could no longer do so after EMTs were called to help a man with a heart condition. That’s when he had the idea to move them to his basement – complete with all the activities needed to consider them simply “slumber parties.”

Schiller believed city code allowed for slumber parties, but officials said there are "sleeping regulations" for basements and Schiller's basement doesn't meet those requirements...

Schiller said city officials and police officers came to his home with a warrant Tuesday and went into his basement. There, he said they found his ceiling height too low and windows too high and too small to be an egress.

“They shut me down and said I have 24 hours to return my basement to storage and take down - I have several cots with sleeping bags for everybody – or they’ll condemn the house.”

Yep, those hazardous low ceilings and high windows do sound threatening – good thing authorities have the good sense to send people outside in below-zero temperatures to do their sleeping.