The women’s winter shelter closed at the end of March. The Greensboro Urban Ministry shelter is full. She’s applied to the Salvation Army’s shelter program, but hasn’t gotten in there, either. There are no other shelters in Greensboro.

A nurse at the IRC (a friend of mine) suggested she call me. Our StreetWatch ministry provides tents and sleeping bags for homeless people who sleep outside. She asked me for blankets and she wanted to know where would be a safe location for her to sleep? And quite honestly, I didn’t know what to tell her.

I’ve had so many calls lately about homeless women on the street in Greensboro. They all need someplace to stay. I get calls from the homeless women themselves, calls from police officers, calls from homeless service providers. The shelters are full, what are the options? Well, not many that I know of.

There are women’s shelters in other towns nearby, but that’s not an option for many of these women, for various reasons. I’ve suggested to all of them that they go to the IRC, which has a housing program, but what I hear back is that unless they have an income, there’s no housing available. (Makes sense and I knew that, but I remain hopeful that someone will have housing vouchers!)

Most of the homeless women who sleep outside have a boyfriend or husband. If they weren’t with a partner when they became homeless, they find one quickly. I hear from many women that companionship and safety are very important when you live on the street. A woman living outside alone is much more vulnerable.

I’m not sure what to tell the lady who called me today. There are two tent cities within walking distance of downtown, but neither has single women living there and at both places, the residents have a voice in who joins their community, so there’s no guarantee that either will be the right fit for her. I’m not sure if she’d prefer community life or a place to herself. And it’s not always easy to find a safe, legal place to camp. (Property owners have given permission for homeless people to camp on the land where the tent cities are located.)

I’m about to go to the StreetWatch storage unit to pick up blankets and a sleeping bag and go find this lady. I still don’t know where she’ll sleep tonight. Another homeless woman sleeping outside in Greensboro. That’s messed up. We need a women’s shelter. Well, we need more shelter space for homeless people, period. But women, especially, do not need to be living outside. And women living alone on the street? That should just never, ever happen.

“Elizabeth Link, the city’s urban designer, created the landscape design for the park. Downtown Greensboro Inc. set in motion the plan to upgrade the park. Link and Ed Wolverton, president of Downtown Greensboro, were on hand for the plan’s unveiling.

Wolverton created a small task force from nearby businesses to get ideas for the design and said Wednesday that there was considerable debate over whether to include benches in the park.

They decided against it, partly because of the added cost, and because the benches would have to be stabilized in the ground, which might interfere with fiber optic cables running beneath the land.

But another reason was over concerns that homeless people would take over the benches and the park itself, making it undesirable for pedestrians. That’s a constant problem throughout downtown.”

Maybe that shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did. I thought Greensboro was a town known for not discriminating against people. But I guess it’s still OK to discriminate against homeless people. Here’s the thing, though. A public park is public. That means that anyone can use it. DGI is worried about pedestrians. Most homeless people are pedestrians. Homeless people have a right to sit on benches, just like anyone else.

DGI is either going to have to accept that there will always be homeless people downtown, or they need to find a way to move services elsewhere. The homeless shelters, soup kitchen, day center, mental health center, health clinic, free meal sites, library, bus depot and more are all downtown. Unless shelter and services for homeless people are moved elsewhere, there will always be homeless people downtown. And they are and will continue to be members of the public, and entitled to use any public facilities. And they shouldn’t be discriminated against. For shame, DGI.

Update: Discussion at Ed Cone’s blog.

…the IRC is a lot like its neighbor, the J. Douglas Galyon Depot, connecting clients to the means to get from here to there through an impressive assortment of partner agencies.

A recent visit on a gray, rainy day revealed a full house of homeless clients, some conferring quietly with center staff, others socializing as they waited to be seen. Two huge, brightly lit Christmas trees stood in opposite corners of the reception area. On a big, white, dry-erase board was a quote for the day, which read in part, “Remember, every day is a new day.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean every day is a good day. Two clients had gotten into a shouting match that very morning. But the overall vibe at the IRC is distinctly upbeat and hopeful.

A client can get mail there, wash laundry, take a shower, get a haircut and enroll in job-hunting courses, including computer training. The center helps locate temporary shelter and permanent housing for clients. It refers those who want and need it to drug treatment and counseling.

In return, clients help take care of the IRC. They keep it clean. They report misconduct. They created many of the paintings on the IRC’s walls as well as the sculpted handles on the plate-glass front doors. What’s more, fully a third of the 2,000 weekly volunteer hours at the center are filled by homeless workers.

The new facility has been open at its permanent location on Washington Street only for eight months. But it already is making a measurable difference: 3,776 loads of laundry, 2,652 showers, 3,432 nurse visits and 121 full-time permanent jobs found since opening in May, says IRC Executive Director Liz Seymour…

>> Read all of Editorial: Bright ray of hope at News-Record.com

Walking directions from Center City Park to West Market Street United Methodist Church:

*Awaken Church members will also serve their regularly scheduled breakfast at the usual time and location on Sunday morning the 25th, which is Christmas Day.

image credit: Matt from London on Flickr

Each year since 1990, on December 21st, which is on or near the first day of winter and the longest night of the year, the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) has sponsored National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day. This is a time to remember our homeless friends who have died while experiencing homelessness and an opportunity to bring attention to the ongoing reality and tragedy of homelessness in our nation.

Communities across the nation hold events to commemorate National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day. Here are some events in Greensboro on Wednesday, December 21st that you can be involved in:

NHPMD 2009

Flying Signs:

Update: Sign flying is canceled.   This takes a lot of planning, and the forecast still says rain, so we’ve decided to go ahead and call this one off and focus on the later activities instead. Weather permitting*, members of the StreetWatch homeless outreach team and friends will hold informational signs at major intersections in Greensboro during the morning and afternoon on December 21. If you’d like to join us, please contact me here.

Memorial Walk

• Begins at 4:45pm at the Interactive Resource Center at 407 E. Washington St. and continues on to S. Elm St. and then to W. Lee St.
• Ends at Grace Community Church at 643 W. Lee St.

View Route for Homeless Memorial Walk in a larger map

Memorial Service

The memorial service will be held at Grace Community Church, 643 W. Lee St., at 6:15pm. Grace’s weekly Wednesday Community Fellowship Dinner for the homeless and hungry will follow the service.

From the IRC’s Director, Liz Seymour: “We invite anyone who would like to start a new tradition to come down to 407 E. Washington Street and spend a little Christmas at the IRC!”

Related: Bender’s Tavern will provide shuttle service from the IRC to their restaurant for their free Christmas meal for the needy.

“[Rashad Young] said he would also find a campus setting for the homeless facilities. Young said it didn’t make any sense to have the night shelter and other facilities a couple of miles from the day shelter. He said that having the homeless shelter right along one of the main entrances to the city was also not ideal. Young said that he created a campus for services in Dayton and, although it was controversial, it worked.”

via Rashad Young Plays Dictator For A Day

View Some of the places homeless people go in Greensboro, NC in a larger map

The problem that I see with the “homeless campus” idea is that many of the places that homeless people go frequently are government agencies or facilities, which are currently quite spread out (check out DSS, SSA and DMV on the map, for example) and which aren’t likely to move closer to one another in order to benefit homeless people. Free meals sites are mostly at churches, which also aren’t likely to move. And the IRC (homeless day center) is located in a donated facility.

I understand the concern about having the city’s primary homeless services provider located at a major intersection on a major artery leading into downtown Greensboro. “The block” at Lee and Eugene, as it’s known on the street, is infamous for the motley collection of day laborers, drinkers and colorful characters who hang out there daily. The city regularly launches initiatives to sweep them away, but within no time, they’re back. The night shelter’s rules forbid residents to hang out on the block, but the noon meal at the soup kitchen, open to everyone, seems to be quite a draw.

Perhaps if the time comes that the parcel of land there at Lee and Eugene becomes valuable enough to the City or to developers, an arrangement can be made to buy or to swap land so that the Greensboro Urban Ministry campus, and perhaps the IRC day center, and maybe other homeless service providers, can be moved to a location that would allow for more services in one place, and for a larger shelter (much needed!). I’ve heard rumors through the years that this was actually a plan, but if so, it hasn’t yet come to fruition.

Officials trying to curb the number of panhandlers in downtown Greensboro are passing out fliers suggesting what to do if a panhandler approaches.

>> Read all of “Panhandling Fliers Handed Out in Downtown Greensboro” and view video on Fox8.

The story mentions nothing about alcoholism and drug addiction, which are far and away the top reasons people panhandle. But IRC Director Liz Seymour responded to my previous inquiry (following this post) with assurances that the center’s street outreach team will be addressing the addiction issue and providing help to those who’re interested in recovery.