In the thick of winter a few months ago, Matthew Stone was living in a tent encampment in the woods of a central Illinois city.
“It was very horrible, a very horrible experience,” Stone said. “I was living in a tent with my dog. It was just, all in all, a horrible experience, very cold this winter.”
Temperatures in central Illinois averaged 20 degrees Fahrenheit, with a low of minus 8 in January. But three days before temperatures dropped below zero, the city of Bloomington opened its first shelter village. The Bridge is a tiny house community that offers people experiencing homelessness private spaces for sleeping and storing their belongings…