Joe Hooks, a volunteer at The Salvation Army, sweeps the floor Monday of what was the overnight shelter. Sunday night was the final night for the sleep shelter. A temporary shelter will be provided in the space used by the Lawrence Interdenominational Nutrition Kitchen, 221 W. 10th St., at the First Christian Church.

Lawrence now has one overnight shelter to serve the city’s homeless population.

For the first time Monday night, dozens of people slept on mats in the building that houses the Lawrence Interdenominational Nutrition Kitchen, 221 W. 10th St., at the First Christian Church.

After months of notice and one delay, The Salvation Army closed its overnight shelter Sunday night in favor of a transitional housing program.

Now, the Lawrence Community Shelter leaders take on the role as the city’s only major overnight shelter.

“Things are really in flux right now because we don’t have a place for people that is sort of long term or even medium term,” said Loring Henderson, executive director of the Community Shelter, 214 W. 10th St.

The LINK site will be a temporary shelter, Henderson said. The Community Shelter has a request pending with the city and county commissions to operate an overflow shelter near 13th and Massachusetts streets in a vacant church sanctuary connected to the offices of the county’s public works building, 1242 Mass.

Douglas County commissioners are scheduled to discuss use of the county-owned building at their 6:35 p.m. meeting Wednesday. The Lawrence City Commission would still have to approve a permit for the county site to be used as an emergency shelter.

Community Shelter leaders hope to operate their current site, which is already full, and another overflow site for 18 to 24 months, until larger, more permanent shelter is ready, Henderson said.

The change

The Salvation Army months ago decided to close its overnight shelter and seek to operate a program to help families and individuals find housing. Otherwise, the remaining operations at the building, 946 N.H., will remain the same.

“Sheltering is not the solution to homelessness,” said Capt. Wes Dalberg, who leads The Salvation Army site in Lawrence. “It’s a part of what moves people along the path to getting out of homelessness, but it’s not a solution and an end in itself.”

For now, the organization is preparing to serve five families or individuals through the program, and future grant funding could boost it to 15 families or individuals.

Dalberg said the Salvation Army shelter had capacity for 42 people, and it fluctuated between 35 to 42 people per night. The Community Shelter is already at capacity at 31 people per night, Henderson said.

The LINK site will serve as a dry shelter and turn away people who have been drinking alcohol, and Henderson said he expected possibly 30 people to stay there. But the Community Shelter’s board is focusing on the county site as its preference to be a temporary overflow shelter, he said.

But that site still needs approval from the County Commission, the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission and the Lawrence City Commission. Even then, it likely would not be ready until July.

One Lawrence man who had stayed in the Salvation Army shelter for about three months said he was frustrated by the uncertainty about temporary sites.

“We don’t know where we’re going to be this time or next time or whatever. We’re out here homeless, and it’s hard,” said Randall Reed, 53.

New regulations

The Community Shelter leaders publicized the opening of the LINK site as an overflow shelter over the weekend. The City Commission recently approved regulations that allow churches to operate as temporary homeless shelters as long as they are serving no more than 15 people at a time for no more than 120 days per year.

Paul Studebaker, chairman of the First Christian Church’s board of trustees, said the church did not seek city approval to allow the shelter to operate for now at the LINK site because it would be a temporary shelter. The church has already served as a Family Promise site, a nonprofit program that uses a series of churches to house up to four families.

“It’s important to have a place for people to have shelter if they need it,” Studebaker said.

But if more than 15 people stay at the LINK site per night, the Community Shelter would need to obtain a city special-use permit to operate there, according to the new city regulations.

Scott McCullough, the city’s planning and development services director, said if the city received a complaint about the LINK site, planning staffers would investigate the site and either find the site in compliance or require the shelter to seek a permit.

Shelter leaders said they moved quickly to open the LINK site because of the gap in time before the county building site could get approved.

“We’re truly in crisis. We have to put people some place tonight, and because we have this vote coming up with the County Commission, we’ll struggle through until then,” Henderson said.