CHAMPAIGN--You've seen it on the news. More than a hundred people lost their homes when Gateway Studios went bankrupt back in May. Shelters are turning people away. So what do you do? I talked to a family Tuesday night living the nightmare of going homeless.

"I love you," said Angela Marrs to her 9 year-old daughter on the phone. "I miss you." A cell-phone is how she keeps in touch with her two kids. She sent them to her mother in Missouri last year after a fire destroyed their home and their bank account dried up. "It's the worst feeling in the world," she said. "I don't know how else to describe it." "I wouldn't want anybody to feel this way." Insurance won't pay a cent. A good Samaritan is picking up their tab at a hotel, but that offer runs out in a matter of days. "The kids don't want to come back because they have no place to go for Christmas or Thanksgiving and we just find out I was pregnant so not knowing where you're going to live is not easy," she said.

Her husband's paycheck isn't enough to make ends meet. "I mean I've always worked hard and I've just never thought this happen to me," said Jason Marrs. His landscaping business is at an all-time low. "It was probably 75 percent down compared to the years before so just not enough," he said. His earnings combined with his wife's part-time paycheck average about a thousand dollars a month. "Trying to find a full-time job right now is not easy," Angela said. "I have put in so many applications."

As the waiting game continues, the couple is holding out hope their growing family will keep a roof over their heads. "No matter what, I haven't gave up," Jason said. "I'm still fighting and I won't give up." "I'm not that kind of person."

The city council says it has to come up with a solution fast. There's no year-round emergency shelter in Champaign for families. That needs to change. It's also trying to develop an emergency tenant relocation plan and set up a safety net fund.