Many Emergency Shelters Need A Paradigm Shift
Our community has an emergency shelter. It opens when temperatures get too high or too low. It is designed to protect the most vulnerable (homeless on the streets) from bodily hard due to extreme weather.
In some ways our community is ahead of the curve of many communities simply because it has a permanent shelter with over 60 beds. It is ready to go when weather spikes up or down. Too many communities don’t even have this luxury of a place to use. They often turn to churches, community auditoriums, school gymnasiums, etc.
But, too many emergency shelters depend on community volunteers to “staff” the shelters.
At one time community volunteers were able to do a good job. Their big hearts to help the vulnerable people on the streets was noble and the most qualifying. The most vulnerable were mainly people down on their “luck” who just needed a safe, dry, warm place to sleep.
But over time, the most vulnerable, the homeless population changed. Causes of homelessness were not just due to people down on their luck, but to addiction, criminal behavior, mental health challenges and more.
The population now needed skilled, trained volunteers to man emergency shelters. Older folk with big hearts or younger folk wanting to make a difference were not a match for those coming into the shelter. Chaos commenced and some communities decided it wasn’t worth the risk and emergency shelters disappeared.
Back to my community; we do have an emergency shelter, but we are still trying to staff it with volunteers. Those in charge are still asking those with big “hearts” to take a shift to watch over those who come to the shelter.
You can just imagine when a retired man in his 70’s volunteers to take a shift from midnight to 3:00 am and has to deal with a person struggling with mental health who is up and roaming around the shelter looking for something or someone who doesn’t exist. You can imagine what happens as voices rise and others wake up to get involved. Eventually the police may need to be called and somehow the emergency shelter now has an emergency.
Some communities who may have discovered this problem of unskilled volunteers staffing an emergency shelter have tried renting motel rooms to get the vulnerable off the streets. But with limited oversight motel rooms are trashed leaving motels with the high cost of renovation or just shutting their doors*.
If we are serious about helping the most vulnerable, the homeless, in our communities we have to make a decision it will require the cost of trained staff who can adequately deal with the myriad of challenges that arise from providing a clean, safe, warm shelter.
Where will we get the money? Studies show it is actually less expensive to house the homeless in shelters, than leave them roaming the streets. The money is already being spent, just for dealing with the results of the homeless rather than the restoration of them.
Will your community change the paradim?
There are answers. There is hope. If your community is ready, bring in those who have done it and start to dream and plan.
*a large motel that was purchased to house the homeless in our community was recently condemned, closed and the owners going into foreclosure. There was inadequate oversight with trained staff.
By Chad McComas