Shelter Rules Decoder Ring

I’m pretty sure I understand the English language . . . but I totally didn’t understand what this meant! You’d be surprised by what it really means:

Homeless single men’s and single women’s shelter days are being increased to 90 days effective September 1st.
This is a temporary adjustment in an effort to encourage unsheltered homeless single adults to move inside.

Here’s the full message:

from: Wallinger, Sue
to:
date: Wed, Aug 26, 2015 at 8:41 AM
subject: Increase in available shelter days for homeless single men and women

Homeless single men’s and single women’s shelter days are being increased to 90 days effective September 1st.

This is a temporary adjustment in an effort to encourage unsheltered homeless single adults to move inside.

If you have questions please contact Preston Patterson (ppatterson@porchlightinc.org) or Melissa Sorensen (Melissa.sorensen@usc.salvationarmy.org).

Here’s what I did understand:
1. Families and children aren’t covered, there were no extensions for them.

2. For single women there are still shelter space limits – only 30 women can sleep in the shelter each night. If there are more than 30, they do a lottery and you don’t find out til 5:00 or later if you have a place to sleep for the night then you get to wander the city trying to figure out where a safe place to sleep is. There had been 24 – 29 women sleeping in shelter prior to this extension so it was only going to help 1 – 6 women.

Also, for women, their days don’t reset on Nov 1 like the men, so many prefer to keep their days until the days when it is between 21 and 35 or 40 degrees when they don’t let people into shelters for a “free” night – they only do that if it is less than 20 degrees. So they save their nights for the coldest days.

3. You still have to follow all the strict rules about when you can come on the property, what time you can get into the shelter and you can’t be late. etc. etc. etc. So people get turned away if they show up too late if they miss a bus or something else happens.

4. There is no wet shelter, so if you have been drinking and its not below 20 degrees you will be turned away.

5. Men are banned from shelter and not allowed under and circumstances, unless they know how to appeal and most likely that will only happen with the help of an advocate.

6. There is no shelter for couples without kids.

What I DIDN’T understand and took me 41 days to figure out:
I just learned this at noon yesterday. And I have no clue how I was supposed to understand that you had to ask questions to find out the real rules.

The way I currently understand it – men who ran out of days at shelter can’t try to get in at 7:30 with the rest of the men, they have to wait until 8:45. Between 8:45 and 9:00 its first come first serve and anyone who is out of days who wants to get into shelter will be considered. Then at 9pm if you didn’t get a spot you get to wander the downtown looking for a place where you might not get a ticket. (The only legal place is on the benches on State St. and the Square)

It took me 41 days to figure out what the guys were telling when they said “that extension isn’t for us”. I kept insisting it was for them. They said told me it wasn’t. I asked them if they were banned, they said no. I asked if they were temporarily banned, they said no. I asked if they tried with different staff people – they said it didn’t matter that they couldn’t get in if their days had run out. Captain Gloede and I tried talking to two guys who insisted they couldn’t get in and we were equally in the dark and confused. Neither of us had an answer. Except go sleep on a bench, to which they said, but the sprinklers come on at 3:30.

At the meeting, I asked twice for this to be put in writing for us (so I can hand it to the guys). I don’t expect that to happen. They seemed to think that explaining it to the guys was all they had to do. But obviously, they didn’t do a good job, because they guys couldn’t explain it to me after many, many questions about why they couldn’t go to shelter.

After the meeting, I asked one of Porchlight’s workers when this happened, where did this rule come from and why didn’t we know. He does outreach himself and he said, “I just learned it myself”

Wow. Just. so. frustrating.