Voices From the Sidewalk: When Sheltering the Homeless Becomes “Warehousing People”

Homeless shelters rarely have the adequate amount of staffing needed to provide meaningful help for shelter residents. An example of this is a homeless shelter in Albany, Oregon that has only two case managers for one hundred residents. It is an
unrealistic expectation that the shelter residents would figure out how to exit homelessness without the help of a case manager or peer support specialist.

I call it “warehousing people” when there are enough beds, but not enough help. I formerly worked at the shelter for a number of years as a case manager and found it incredibly frustrating to not have hours, instead of minutes, with the people I was serving.

I would say the number one cause of homelessness is trauma. Yes, addiction, mental illness, domestic violence and transitioning into the community after prison are all causes of homelessness. Each person has a unique story to tell and most of those stories involve childhood trauma and/or other traumas that have occurred. The trauma then leads to drug abuse, as the addict seeks to numb and forget the emotional pain that is a part of their lives. This in no way excuses the behavior of using drugs, just a simple observation.

Having experienced childhood trauma and then homelessness myself, I whole-heartedly believe that in order to move forward in life, the trauma has to be addressed. For me, that looked like entering a residential mental health facility and receiving the much-needed treatment I needed.

While most shelters (thankfully) provide meals and a roof over one’s head, it doesn’t address the core issue of the homeless individual. One on one care is required to help people transition from a life of homelessness to a life of self-sufficiency. At Sparrows Landing, we will have a Needs Navigator to assist the 15-20 people we will be sheltering. This is an ongoing project, bringing another shelter to Albany.

Shelter providers should be applauded for their service of getting a bed and some meals to an individual in need. However, if that shelter guest isn’t getting any one-on-one time with a peer support specialist, case manager or other staff, we can expect them to stay in their circumstance.

The point of a homeless shelter is for it to be a temporary place to restart one’s life. There are low-barrier shelters that are definitely a need but we have got to expand our services to the homeless. Each person should have an assessment and a plan of action to exit homelessness. And that plan of action should include a time frame.

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Barbara Thayer

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