photo by: Jackson Barton

The Lawrence Community Shelter is pictured Friday Aug. 9, 2019.

When it comes to choosing between sleeping outside in a tent or taking one of the recently added overnight-only beds at the Lawrence Community Shelter, the choice is a complicated one for some. A shelter leader said they are seeing more people use the overnight beds, but recognized that barriers still exist.

The City of Lawrence and the shelter announced in early March that the shelter would soon expand to serving 125 people, paid for with the city’s pandemic relief aid, after more than three years of limited capacity. Capacity was increased from about 50 continuous stay spots, which allow people to remain at the shelter 24/7 and receive case management services, to about 25 such spots and about 100 overnight-only spots, for a total capacity of 125. The increased capacity began March 13.

LCS Interim Executive Director Melanie Valdez said that since increasing capacity, the shelter has averaged 77 to 78 people per night, with the lowest being 49 and the highest 104. She said that currently, with recent warmer weather, the number has dropped to about 67 to 68 per night, meaning there are about 60 beds available. Valdez said the shelter has made changes to the program since expanding capacity to better meet people’s needs, and that it recognized there were some issues with the new format as well as aspects of congregate sheltering in general that deterred some from utilizing the shelter.

Valdez said those issues included transportation, storage of belongings, and a lack of street outreach workers to make connections with those sleeping outside, as well as the general challenges of having many people sleeping in the same place in a dormitory setting. Of those, she said there were two that stood out when considering what would most help increase utilization of the shelter.

“I would say the transportation and street outreach are probably the biggest two that we feel would help,” Valdez said. “I feel like relationship building is the best way to approach it, and not like a mandate.”

Weighing choices

The Journal-World talked to a few people experiencing homelessness about where they were staying and the reasons they were choosing to stay there.

Stephanie Magnuson said she had stayed at the shelter on and off over the winter but was now staying at the city-managed campsite in North Lawrence. She described multiple instances of sexual harassment against her while experiencing homelessness as well as concerns about people trying to take her belongings, both of which she indicated she worried about if she went to the shelter.

“If I had to go back to the homeless shelter, I would just not bring anything with me,” she said.

Magnuson said the shelter staff was great and she appreciated being inside, but that changes would need to happen before she went back.

“I appreciate a roof over my head, I appreciate the staff, but they got to get some things changed,” she said.

One man, who only wanted to provide his initial, J., said that he was also staying at the city-managed campsite in North Lawrence and was not planning to use the overnight beds at the shelter. He said people talking to themselves in the dorms at night made it hard to sleep, and that he was also deterred because he heard there were not meals served for those staying in the overnight-only beds.

“Too noisy,” he said. “There’s no food. You have to be up at 6 a.m. to make it to Jubilee (Café at First United Methodist Church).”

When asked what might change his mind, J. discussed a shelter in Wichita that he said had four-bed dorms for people with jobs and provided rides to work and three meals per day. He expressed frustration about the decrease in the number of spots at the shelter’s continuous stay program, where participants get case management services as well as meals.

Another man, who did not want to provide his name, also expressed frustration about the limited number of spots in the continuous stay program and the criteria used to select people. He said he felt the selection process was not fair, and he’d like to see not just more people allowed into that program but different types of people. Still, he said he was opting to use the overnight beds.

“Me personally, I would just rather have a bed,” he said. “And a shower.”

Providing shelter

Valdez discussed some of the common barriers to staying at the shelter that the shelter has heard from those experiencing homelessness, and said the shelter and others in the community have been working on plans.

As far as transportation goes, the shelter is located on the eastern edge of the city, at 3655 E. 25th St. There is a city bus stop a little less than a quarter mile away from the shelter, but Valdez said that, in addition to bus service not running on Sunday, a lot of people are elderly or have significant health needs or a physical disability that makes getting to and from the shelter hard on them.

“So that’s really challenging for a lot of people and then when you throw Sundays into it, when no buses are even running, then what is challenging then becomes impossible for some people,” Valdez said.

Valdez said the shelter has talked to the city about transportation options for the shelter, but they don’t have a solution right now. The overnight-only beds also present more of an issue for storage and transportation, because people have to pack up each day and take everything with them. She said the shelter doesn’t have the storage to accommodate campsites with a lot of possessions, and she recognized how much that meant to people. She said even for those whose possessions could be accommodated, they would also have to find something to do with their things during the day.

“Where do they go and what do they have access to?” Valdez said. “There is just not an easy answer for that.”

Valdez previously said that the shelter looked at various criteria to prioritize who needed to be in the continuous stay program, with input from staff, case management and the individuals themselves. She said the shelter prioritized based on need with the highest priority being the exceptionally vulnerable based on age or disability. She said increasing the number of continuous-stay spots from the current number of approximately 25 would take more staff, but also more food and more funding for other costs, such as maintenance and repairs, which tend to increase as the shelter serves more people.

“So there is so many things associated with that, but just staffing would have an immediate impact, an immediate need to be able to do that,” she said.

Valdez said the other main issue, street outreach, would also require additional funding. She said street outreach provides shelter staff the ability to build relationships and trust with people so barriers that are keeping them from shelter can be addressed.

“You know, go out to camps and check in with them and start building those relationships over time,” Valdez said. “Learning what their needs are, learning about them as they become more comfortable with you, and why they might be avoiding shelter and see if you can reduce some of those barriers.”

Issues that people have with congregate shelters more generally also present a challenge. Valdez said there are times when people with mental health needs can be disruptive, talking to themselves all night or crying out, and there can be other disruptions from the setting, such as light from the hallway. She said it can just be a tough space to be in, and some people have a very difficult time sleeping.

She said the shelter has made some changes since capacity was increased. For instance, Valdez said that on the first night, to deter bedbugs, they required people to store their belongings and change out of their clothes. The shelter provided them with a T-shirt and shorts for pajamas and washed the laundry they came in with. Valdez said when numbers dropped off after the first night, they made those actions optional, while still using heat treatments on people’s belongings if there was a concern. She said the shelter hasn’t had bedbugs since 2019 and there have not been any issues since increasing capacity.

Overall, Valdez emphasized that people experiencing homelessness are not a homogeneous group, and that there are various circumstances and needs. She said since increasing capacity, the shelter has served 162 unique individuals. She said shelter staff members have assessed each one of them to determine who has the greatest need for the continuous stay program and to complete the “by name” list that is shared among local service providers. She said the reality and depth of the need is apparent.

She said the people experiencing homelessness include elderly people — the oldest being 82 years old — many of whom have fixed incomes and have lost their housing because their landlord has increased the rent or sold the property. She said a lot of people have developmental or cognitive disabilities, or appear to have autism but are in their 60s and were never diagnosed or provided interventions. She said some experienced homelessness as children and are now finding themselves in the same situation as young adults. Others have mental health issues, and others have undergone serious trauma, especially childhood trauma. She said the city, Douglas County and supporting agencies spend hours and hours a week working on plans, work groups and education to try to figure out the best approach, and she was hopeful for those efforts.

“I hope as a community we can just really pull together to continue working on it,” she said. “… Because we know there is a not an immediate fix. It’s going to take a lot of effort on everyone’s part, because the whole system has to work.”

The city has estimated there may be as many as 200 people living outside, so the shelter’s approximately 60 available overnight-only beds would only be able to shelter a portion of those people. The city is also planning a site with 75 small, modular homes that is expected to open on North Michigan Street in June.