Recently, a local weekly newspaper interviewed outgoing Greensboro City Manager Rashad Young and asked what he would have done if he could have played “dictator for a day” in our city. This idea got my attention:
“[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.
