Tarrant County emergency shelters prepare for cold weather with reduced capacity

By Haeven Gibbons

Imogene goes to Presbyterian Night Shelter to get out of the cold. During the day, she uses True Worth, Presbyterian Night Shelter's day time facility. Photo: Presbyterian Night Shelter, Jenny Spencer

Temperatures dipping below 40 have long triggered the opening of cold weather shelters for the homeless. But COVID-19 has complicated the situation.

The eight shelters that partner with the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition have reduced their bed capacity by 40% to be inline with social distancing requirements.

However, the pandemic has also contributed to an increase in the homeless population because of the economic downturn and spike in unemployment.

Chart: Haeven Gibbons- Source: Tarrant County Homeless Coalition
Chart: Haeven Gibbons- Source: Tarrant County Homeless Coalition

This year has seen a 6 percent increase overall in the number of people who experienced homelessness compared to 2019, according to interim executive director of TCHC Lauren King. The nonprofit and its partners have served 11,439 people, up from 10,645 in 2019.

“Last year we saw a big increase in unsheltered homelessness,” said King. “We saw this huge increase, but then we also saw a decrease in the number of outreach teams we had, so we had fewer resources.”

Unemployment was the leading cause for homelessness in 2018, according to TCHC. That year, the jobless rate peaked at 3.8; by April of this year, the rate climbed to 13.4, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

When the Vickery station overflow site closed at the end of September, 100 people were left unsheltered.

“Many shelters are still not offering programming or emergency shelter services due to capacity limitations and other COVID-19 related reasons,” said Lezlee Kinney, volunteer coordinator at Union Gospel Mission Tarrant County.

King said in years past, shelters crowded people into dining halls and other warm spaces when faced with an overflow. This winter, plans call for shuttling homeless people to cold weather shelter location sites, including Vickery station, Sycamore and Riverside community centers.

_{Photo: Presbyterian Night Shelter, Jennifer Smith}

To combat the reduced capacity in shelters, long-term homeless advocates are looking to use additional money through the CARES Act to help people find permanent homes.

TCHC has a new initiative called the “Housing 500 Challenge.” The goal is to house 500 people before the end of the year. TCHC housed 88 people in October and is aiming to house 200 people in November and December. Ideally, TCHC tries to house 50 people a week.

“The whole point of this challenge is to figure out how we need to get our system up and running again,” said King. “In addition to that, we’re also trying to get as many people out of congregate settings as we can because we don’t want to have a significant outbreak (of COVID-19).”

TCHC volunteers create "welcome baskets" to give to people moving out of homelessness. The baskets are filled with sheets, pillows, cleaning supplies, toiletries and kitchenware. Photo: Tarrant County Homeless Coalition
TCHC volunteers create "welcome baskets" to give to people moving out of homelessness. The baskets are filled with sheets, pillows, cleaning supplies, toiletries and kitchenware. Photo: Tarrant County Homeless Coalition

Before the extra funding from the CARES Act, TCHC’s outreach team was a group of 11 people who were tasked with serving all of Tarrant County. Now, outreach teams will have about 50 people, according to King.

“That should make a significant difference in how we're able to serve people who are unsheltered,” King said.

Coming in from the cold

Mr. Otwell sits across the street from Union Gospel Mission waiting for food that is passed out by volunteers. Photo: Josh Jordan

Cold weather shelters officially opened on November 1.

In Fort Worth, shelters open if the weather is below 40 degrees in wet conditions, below 35 degrees in dry conditions or if the wind-chill is below 32 degrees for three or more hours. Arlington’s trigger is a temperature below 39 degrees for more than 4 hours.

Coalition officials text alerts to homeless people who subscribe to their cold weather updates when temperatures are expected to drop. Everyone is screened for COVID-19 before being allowed in a shelter. If shelters are full, they get a wristband indicating they have been screened before being bused to a cold weather station.

The shelters assign people to socially distant cots to make contact tracing easier. Families receive motel vouchers to spend the night in a single room.

The eight shelters partnered with TCHC take extra cleaning precautions, perform regular temperature checks and space out dining times.

All decisions are consistent with the Centers for Disease Control recommendations and have been carefully made to support the prevention of the COVID-19 virus from being spread in the community, said Don Shisler, Union Gospel Mission president, in a letter on March 13.

The CARES Act also provided additional money to help buy extra cleaning supplies for emergency shelters.

“We went through a whole process to figure out what the weekly use rate was, so each of the emergency shelters have their specific amount that they use, and the homeless coalition coordinates that effort,” said King.

_{Photo 1: Room In The Inn - Nashville, TN}

_{Photo 2: ALS, True Worth agencies}

How Union Gospel Mission has changed its operations amid COVID-19

Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County is one of the eight shelters that cut its capacities to follow government mandates on social distancing, leaving many without a place to go. Their residents usually stay with them for 6 months to a year. But this year, that timeline was cut short for some.

The men’s overnight dorm, which usually houses 67 men, is not open.

In the past two months, UGM-TC has taken in eight single women to stay in the women’s overnight dorm. The dorm normally holds 16 women.

They have referred overnight guests to the temporary overflow shelters opened by the city of Fort Worth.

Chart: Haeven Gibbons- Source: Union Gospel Mission Tarrant County
Chart: Haeven Gibbons- Source: Union Gospel Mission Tarrant County

Before checking into an emergency shelter, guests get a health screen to make sure they are not showing symptoms of COVID-19. Photo: ALS, True Worth agencies
Before checking into an emergency shelter, guests get a health screen to make sure they are not showing symptoms of COVID-19. Photo: ALS, True Worth agencies

UGM-TC also houses some permanent residents. Normally, they can house up to 400 individuals, including families. Now, UGM-TC can house a max of 70 men and 65 women and children, according to Kinney.

Overnight beds pose a difficulty shelters have not faced before. When people come into an emergency shelter to be in their program beds, they can isolate for 14 days and then get a bed, but with overnight beds, people rotate in and out which cannot happen due to COVID-19, said King.

UGM-TC is committed to keeping their doors open, despite capacity limitations, said Don Shisler, Union Gospel Mission president, in a letter on March 13.

“While some businesses or organizations may be able to temporarily close, we will have our doors open continuing to serve on the front lines,” said Shisler.

UGM-TC also provides food for those who need it. According to UGM-TC’s food services director, Robert Clethen, food donations have remained consistent since March. They have been serving seven to nine thousand meals a month.

But they are no longer allowed to serve guests inside. The only people who can eat inside are UGM-TC’s residents.

“Volunteers serve trays through the plexiglass now, and we have plexiglass on our tables in the dining room,” said Clethen. Because of the divider only four people can fit at the table instead of six or seven.

To serve outside guests, UGM-TC vamped up a sack lunch program where they pass out sack lunches to people at breakfast lunch and dinner every day, said Kinney.