Weather places conditions on Lubbock homeless population

By Urvi Dalal / The Hub@TTU

With colder weather settling into the South Plains countless individuals are searching for housing, filling local homeless shelters to capacity.

Although Lubbock has a number of temporary housing organizations the onset of colder weather, holidays, and trying economic times have brought an influx of individuals to shelters. Shelters are running low on room, food, and volunteers and struggling to keep up with the seasonal demands.

Erica Hitt, director of social services at the Salvation Army, said their capacity is 125 people and they are running at full capacity, with 42 of their occupants being children.

“We always see an increase [during this time] because the weather is colder,” Hitt said, also noting that a recent increase can also be explained to post-COVID and post-government assistance circumstances.

According to the 2022 Housing and Urban Development (HUD) point-in-time report, the City of Lubbock has 259 documented homeless individuals, the bulk of which are adults ages 18 and older. The numbers in this report refer to individuals who are living in transitional housing, emergency shelters, and other temporary housing arrangements.

HUD recorded that more than 326,000 individuals have experienced sheltered homelessness in one night in the United States in 2021; a slight decline from 2020.

Hitt explained that COVID has made an impact on the number of people needing their services. The family shelter has been at capacity for the past year and a half. For men and women, they typically run at 80% capacity and have rooms available. During November and December, Salvation Army is full.

Heather Wootton, a resident of Grace Campus, another local shelter, said she has been at the shelter for three and a half months, but this isn’t her first visit.

“The first time, I was here for a year,” Wootton said. “I was able to transition out and I got my own apartment at a second chance place.”

Grace Campus, a six-month transitional homeless shelter, is divided into two parts, one side houses women and couples while the other side houses men. Approximately 15% of Grace Campus’ population is women which is close to the national average, Grace Campus Program Director Jerri Ann Moore, said.

“The people we see are [typically] situationally homeless,” Moore said. “Meaning, they’ve just hit a hiccup in life.”

She said maybe they’ve lost their jobs, couldn’t pay doctor bills or rent, had a house fire, were in jail, or recently got a divorce. There are very few chronically homeless people at the shelter. She further explained that each circumstance is different.

Wootton shared that she has made mistakes in her life but she’s now on a spiritual journey, in which she asked God to guide her and show her the way.

“It’s about paying it forward,” she said. “This place is paying it forward to a lot of people that don’t have anything.”

Homelessness is often thought to be a problem brought upon by laziness or for an individual to see the need to work, stigmas that these organizations are trying to debunk. The Salvation Army lists mental illness, violence, inability to afford rent, disabilities, unemployment, addiction and abuse, unsafe living environment, and family dysfunction as some of the factors.

“It goes from Hollywood to just not being educated enough on the homeless community,” Hitt said. “A lot of people want help but just don’t know how to get help.”

Moore said most individuals at Grace Campus are there due to an inability to make ends meet. They got evicted from their apartments, among other things.

“There are a few people that fall into that stereotype and just don’t want to do anything,” Hitt said. “But those are the ones that will not make it in our program. They have to be working and income has to be coming in.”

Both Grace Campus and Salvation Army believe their stipulations allow them to assist those who are wanting to help themselves

Grace Campus does not house anyone under the age of 18 at the shelter, while The Salvation Army starts with an emergency shelter which is a 30-day program. They do a wraparound service per individual and determine if they need Tokens of Hope, a long-term transitional, or if they need rapid rehousing, permanent housing. In addition, they have a passage program that provides a space for individuals who have aged out of the foster care system. These individuals are provided with long-term services and intensive case management.

The Salvation Army also has public assistance which deals with rental assistance, food vouchers, utility assistance, public showers, and a clothing closet that is open to the community and homeless, free of charge. Lastly, there is an empowerment center that serves as a day shelter and gets individuals off the street.

“For the most part, the people at Grace Campus just need a place where they can get resources and get back in the game,” Moore said.

The Salvation Army does not require any credentials for people coming in; however, they do have to fill out some paperwork.

“We don’t charge the residents, in fact, we don’t let them [pay] because many of them have offered to,” Moore said.

However, Grace Campus believes if the individual is physically able, they are going to work. The residents at Grace Campus fill out an accountability form every two weeks to track where they applied or anything they need for work.

“This place is the best transitional place I’ve ever been,” Wootton said. “They give second chances to people that don’t even have a chance. I didn’t plan on coming back here a second time and for them to let me in.”

Grace Campus is not government funded so they operate more fluidly, without a strict structure.

“One thing that has hurt us a little bit is that we did not anticipate the rising costs of expenses to finish the inside of the [new] houses,” Moore said.

The typical person used to take about four months to transition out of Grace Campus, but that was pre-COVID. Moore said that they now work with individuals for up to six months if they are working to get back on their feet.

“I think our requirements are fair to where we are serving the right population,” Hitt said about The Salvation Army. “[We are trying to serve] those people that are [attempting] to improve their life and they just need that little hand in helping their kiddos.”

Chick-fil-a provides Grace Campus food every week and Market Street gives the campus sandwiches they’re about to take out. They work hard to try to get individuals, businesses and churches that help them with donations.

“We are very dependent on physical donations,” Moore said. “In terms of funding, we have people who give just the right amount, and we are able to make it.”

Moore said during the holidays is when people want to volunteer and think about donating. Grace Campus sees an uptick in volunteers during this time, but it drops drastically on Jan. 1.

“We’re very small-staffed, so we use volunteers a lot,” Moore said. “That was tough during COVID, so we’ve lost a lot of that.”

Texas Tech is consistent with volunteering, according to Moore.

“When the Tech kids leave, that is always hard for us,” Moore said. “The sororities, fraternities and groups that need volunteer hours is what keeps us going in the fall and spring.”

Volunteering positions entail stocking hygiene closets, blankets, coats, and other supplies that come through the Salvation Army doors.

“I can’t stress enough that the Salvation Army relies on volunteers and community support more than anything,” Hitt said. “It is part of our foundation. Without our volunteers, we would not have the success in [our] programs.”

Wootton said Grace Campus and the people there are amazing, stating that everyone has tragedies in life and are often placed in predicaments they are not ready for, but her main goal, now, is to be spiritual for somebody else and pay it forward.

“No matter what you are in life, as long as you love yourself and feel good about yourself you will be okay,” Wootton said. “I have been on the streets. I have had to sleep on the cold cement and in the tunnel to stay warm. But people come over here and bless us with things.”

Hitt said there are not enough resources to make sure this population stays on their medication and can pay rent and that some families in their care become extremely dependent on government assistance.

Grace Campus provides their residents with most things they need for work if another agency or group cannot assist.

“Throughout the years, I have seen people who want to get on their feet, that do not want to be homeless and are just in this situation,” Moore said. “Then there are people that don’t want to do anything to help themselves. That’s just reality.”

“Everything happens for a reason,” Wootton said. “If I knew then what I know now, I would change a lot of things,” Wootton said. “I would make myself a better person and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

I think it is safe to say that all the agencies would agree, we cannot maintain this population without help,” Hitt said. “We have to stay in prayer and hope that things continue to improve”

The homeless shelters in Lubbock continue to look for volunteers as the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the number of individuals who are willing to donate their time. In addition, all the shelters need supplies and donations.

Hitt said The Salvation Army provides food vouchers to families that come from a partnership with the food bank, but there is a restriction on how often people can go. With their food pantry, anyone who is facing food insecurity can receive a food voucher, no question asked.

The Salvation Army is also in need of hygiene products, towels, blankets, coats, detergent pods and canned food for the pantry.

“We rely on the community,” Hitt said. “If you compare us to a lot of the other cities, we have such good programs that target the homeless populations. It doesn’t look like that in other cities, you see homelessness everywhere. Between us, Open Door, and Grace Campus, we work together to prevent that for the community so then we rely on the community to help us give them the resources.”

No matter the circumstances, both shelters would agree that their work makes a difference.

“We make the biggest impact when we all come together and try to find a solution to things,” Moore said.

For more information on volunteering or donations, visit the Grace Campus and Salvation Army website.