How to stay home if you don’t have a home? KC agencies fear outbreak among the needy
Surrounded by others escaping the cold and putting on white medical masks, 36-year-old Jake Thibeaux sets down his backpack, drops a glob of hand sanitizer in his palm and waits to have his temperature taken.
At this day shelter where the homeless can get a free meal, Thibeaux doesn’t appear bothered by the new protocols as staff check for symptoms of the novel coronavirus. He has a more immediate concern: surviving another bitter cold night on the streets of downtown Kansas City.
But as he gets the clearance to go and grab lunch, he can’t help wondering: “With all of these people crammed together in shelters, shouldn’t we have been doing this a long time ago?”
“People are shoulder-to shoulder,” Thibeaux said. “If one person gets it, we’re all going down.”
That’s the fear keeping shelter leaders up at night, they say.
Starting at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, residents across most of the Kansas City metro will be under orders to stay home. But what about people who have no home to turn to?
Advocates are sounding the alarm that the sweeping efforts to mitigate the coronavirus outbreak are ignoring the community’s most vulnerable.
Agencies are scrambling to prevent a surge of cases among the the homeless, who cannot follow the rules and guidelines of self-quarantine, social distancing, frequent hand-washing or calling the doctor.
Many are older and have compounding medical conditions, the two main factors that can turn the coronavirus into a death sentence. While COVID-19 would be devastating for the most at-risk, experts say their suffering might lead to wider spread of the virus among the entire region.
Leaders say the need may only grow as more people lose their paychecks, jobs and homes. But at the same time, some meal sites and agencies in the area have been forced to close or cut back over concerns about the virus spreading. Shelters that remain open face depleted funding, supplies and volunteer staffs and have been left with a seemingly impossible task: to increase capacity while keeping hundreds of people far enough apart.
“We’ve been here 96 years, for a long time. But we’ve never had these kinds of conditions that exist where we’ve had to seriously look at protecting our volunteers, our staff, our clients and our guests in this way,” said Dennis Chapman, development director of the City Union Mission shelter downtown. “We’re doing everything we can do.”
Advocates say they can’t do it on their own.
Organizations have an immediate need for funding, space to isolate individuals, medical kits, food and supplies.
And they are pleading for a long-term plan to help them keep operating during and after the pandemic — to protect not only those on the streets tonight but those at risk of slipping into homelessness as well.
“This is where there has been a major absence of leadership from both state, city and local officials,” said Tara Raghuveer, a housing advocate with KC Tenants. “There are tens of thousands of people experiencing homelessness. And they cannot follow the guidance to stay home right now. I don’t think anyone is acting fast enough to protect them.”
During a Facebook Live session Sunday morning, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas acknowledged that the city is just in the early stages of finding solutions.
“There is nothing that scares me more than if we have high instances of community spread among our homeless or low-income populations,” he said. “Some of us have a home, a house, an apartment we can stay in. Many of the rest of us don’t.”
‘It would be devastating’
Across the Kansas City region, agencies are working around the clock to deep-clean shelters, separate beds — 6 feet is the recommended distance — sanitize surfaces, collect supplies and deliver meals.
Medical crews are hitting the streets each night to check on homeless residents and make sure no one is exhibiting symptoms of coronavirus. As of Friday, no one they checked had a fever, and shelters had not reported any exposures to the virus, said Heather Hoffman, executive director of the Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness.
But as the coronavirus count climbs each day, advocates worry it’s just a matter of time. The National Coalition for the Homeless warns that these people may be at greater risk of exposure to the virus because they live on the streets, in encampments or in crowded shelters.
“I’m afraid for the older people I know in shelters. I know some are scared,” said 50-year-old Damieon Clemons of Kansas City, who is working to secure his own housing.
Kirk McClure, a professor at the University of Kansas who specializes in housing policy, said that without adequate space to keep residents several feel apart, shelters could become a hotbed for coronavirus transmission.
“The notion of social isolation is being pushed, but that’s just not how our shelters are put together,” McClure said. “It’s going to be a mess. Shelters are woefully lacking in resources. And that they are suddenly going to be able to staff up and find the resources to clean their facilities and separate folks spatially? I see no chance.”
Advocates have been pleading for resources to help stop the virus’s spread among the homeless, as more agencies close and as a shortage of tests and isolation space continue to escalate fears.
“Stepping up to provide leadership is both helpful for people experiencing homelessness, but also as a larger part of our community solution. People experiencing homelessness could be the ones to spread the virus to the wider community,” Raghuveer said.
Across the country, states and cities are taking action. The state of California plans to use hotels to shelter the homeless. San Francisco officials announced a $5 million emergency fund to clean and add capacity at shelters.
In Boston, officials are setting up pop-up medical clinics. San Jose, California, has delivered hand-washing stations, portable toilets and clean water. Others are dedicating buildings as emergency shelters.
Kansas City is only beginning to study such measures. Lucas told The Star last week that city leaders are “trying to come up with answers as fast as we can.”
He said he is in continual contact with local agencies, which provided him with a list of needs for protecting the homeless during the coronavirus outbreak.
The city gets annual funding, such as the Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and council members help allocate about $2 million toward homeless initiatives each year.
Even before the coronavirus was labeled a pandemic, the downtown Kansas City homeless shelter reStart had asked the city for more assistance because its 90 beds for single adults lost their federal funding. On Wednesday, the City Council’s Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee voted 6-1 to provide up to $250,000 so reStart can retain some of its shelter beds.
Lucas, who voted for the proposal, said it is important to provide the emergency funding quickly in light of the pandemic. But he said he wanted to avoid a situation where other nonprofits come to the city looking for funds outside of the normal budget process.
“There’s a lot more we have to do than provide monetary resources. We have to rethink our whole government structure,” Lucas said. “We are looking at buying hotels and motels. We’re working with health professionals in case people need (to be) quarantined and need medical care.”
Veterans Community Project, at 8900 Troost Ave., is working with the city to potentially provide tiny homes for homeless residents with coronavirus symptoms who need to be quarantined. Hope Faith Homeless Assistance Campus, at 705 Virginia Ave., announced Monday that it now has city permission to block off a portion of its street so it can put up a large tent and move its meal program, sanitation stations and case management services to a more spacious area outside.
But city leaders and advocates agree those actions are only a start.
“I am terrified if we get community spread in our homeless community. Nothing terrifies me more. It would be devastating to people’s lives,” Lucas told The Star on Friday. “Our approach to this virus is containment and separation. Coming to a manner in which we are providing services, food and shelter while maintaining separation is something that’s going to be tough for Kansas City.”
Agencies strained for resources
Toccara Scott was in the process of securing stable housing before the coronavirus outbreak reached the Kansas City region.
But this past week, she lost her source of income as the restaurant she works at closed. And now she is putting her plans on hold, staying at City Union Mission for the foreseeable future.
“I’m kind of mad. I have a lot of patience. And since I’ve been here, my patience has gotten a lot stronger,” Scott said. “But if they close longer, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
Others shared the concern that they will need temporary shelter and services for longer than they expected as they lose their paychecks or jobs. Agencies worry about increasing capacity for the long-term, especially since they often already operate with limited resources.
Before the pandemic hit Kansas City, reStart said it needed to come up with $1 million a year to make up for lost federal funding and pay for the beds for single adults. It also provides services for homeless families.
City Union Mission had to cancel an April fundraiser, which likely would have brought in about $250,000 in donations, Chapman said.
Meanwhile, agencies are serving an influx of new people, especially as libraries, food pantries and service providers close or limit services.
Shelters and meal sites that remain open are trying to comply with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations as they serve more people — but shouldering that burden is becoming increasingly difficult as they lose staff and volunteers.
City Union Mission, which typically shelters more than 300 individuals, is not at full capacity, but having enough space to separate residents remains a concern. The homeless shelter is operating without volunteers, which are a major chunk of its workforce, Chapman said.
Volunteers at shelters and meal sites have been told to stay home, especially many who are older and at higher risk of contracting the virus. Leaders also worry that volunteers pose a risk to the homeless, as they could bring the virus into the shelter.
Hope Faith is serving about 400 people seeking meals and showers each day, a challenge as fewer staff members do more work to deep clean and check guests for symptoms.
“We’re kind of like the front line,” said Jaysen Van Sickle, executive director of Hope Faith. “There are no other places to go during the day for most of these services. So what happens if we are forced to close? That’s the stressor that’s keeping me up at night.”
The groups are asking the public to donate extra cleaning supplies, toilet paper, masks, gloves and medical kits. And agencies continue to meet with Kansas City leaders to secure quarantine space and needed supplies.
But advocates fear that Kansas City is not acting fast enough.
“I recommend that places like this don’t get closed down, because a lot of us are in the stage where we need to regroup,” said Thibeaux, as he ate lunch at Hope Faith. “We need to get a step ahead.”
Johnson County shelter could close
The only place for single homeless adults in Johnson County to spend the night is scheduled to close on April 1 — potentially leaving dozens of people without a secure place to eat, sleep and wash up.
Without a permanent shelter in Johnson County, the nonprofit Project 1020 operates a temporary shelter over the winter months each year. After a months-long search and a lawsuit, the organization reached an agreement with the city of Lenexa to run a temporary shelter out of a church for the next three winter seasons.
Founder Barb McEver said the city allows the shelter to maintain 30 beds at Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church, a former elementary school at 9400 Pflumm Road. But with the limited bed space, she said she turns away about 25 people each night.
Under the city agreement, the shelter is supposed to close by April. But she fears closing during the pandemic.
“It’s always sad when a shelter gets ready to close because you worry about the people in the system we have that fall through the cracks,” McEver said. “No matter what, we’ll continue to keep in touch with those people and try to help them. It’s what we always do.”
McEver and others in the region are calling on Johnson County and the city of Lenexa to allow the temporary shelter to remain open or to come up with another solution to help prevent an outbreak among the homeless.
“The shelter has been a godsend,” homeless advocate Sharon Rodriguez said. “There should be action to continue the shelter if they can provide the resources. We’re past the talking stage. It’s action that’s needed now.”
Lenexa Mayor Michael Boehm said the city has no comment on whether it will allow the shelter to remain open longer.
Many advocates warn that allowing people to sleep on the streets without easy access to cleaning facilities or medical services will become increasingly dangerous.
“We want the most vulnerable to have a warm bed and a meal. Putting them outside underneath a bridge is not the best thing for them,” Chapman said. “You’ve got to think about what they’re going through and what goes through their minds as they see this world become more shaky and questionable every day.”
‘We need leadership’
With her 1-year-old granddaughter wrapped around her hip, Cathy Sallee ventured outside of her home for the first time to pick up a free box of groceries at Cross-Lines Community Outreach in Kansas City, Kansas, last week.
Sallee and her family are losing their regular paychecks. She has to miss work to care for her granddaughter, who can no longer attend day care because of coronavirus closures.
“Without my income, it’s going to affect us very, very bad,” Sallee said. “I pray to God every day that my granddaughter, my son and my daughter-in-law do not catch this.”
Many people struggling to survive paycheck-to-paycheck are turning to local leaders for assistance, fearing they may lose their housing — furthering the demand on service agencies.
Hoffman, with the Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness, said the most pressing immediate need is for quarantine space. And she said city and state efforts — to provide economic relief for individuals and businesses, halt utility shutoffs and stop evictions — are helpful in the short term for those on the brink of homelessness.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, for example, signed a sweeping executive order this past week freezing mortgage foreclosures and rent evictions in the state until May 1. Advocates are pushing Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to do the same.
But Hoffman worries agencies will only grow increasingly strained for resources. She is pleading for assistance as shelters and agencies serve more people in need.
“Once we get through the next six to 12 weeks, we’ll likely have a whole lot of folks who are going to start falling into homelessness — folks who are right on the edge,” Hoffman said.
Homeless advocates across Kansas City are calling on national, state and local leaders to take action.
“This is not the moment for politics as usual,” Raghuveer said. “We need leadership. We should be figuring out how to expedite emergency funds to make sure local service providers have everything they need. I haven’t seen that leadership taken on by the state or city.”
Raghuveer said leaders across all levels of government need to band together and find solutions.
And advocates warn that time is running out.
“In every crisis, there’s an opportunity. In this moment, I think we can decide to end homelessness,” Raghuveer said. “Obviously we could do bare bones emergency shelters and tents. I would argue that’s not good enough to meet this moment. We need to figure out options to put people in homes that are dignified and sanitary for the long-term.”
Includes reporting by The Star’s Allison Kite.
This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
