Philly says there’s space for the homeless despite some full shelters and confusion about where to turn

Some intake centers designed to help people experiencing homelessness closed during Philadelphia’s snow emergency, outreach workers told The Inquirer on Friday, while other shelters across the city reported being at capacity and having to turn people away at the door.

It’s typical for city offices, including some homeless intake centers, to close during weather emergencies. On Friday, three out of the six intake centers in the city were open and accepting people seeking shelter.

Still, city officials said there is adequate space, and deputy managing director Mary Horstmann said there are available shelter beds.

“We have outreach workers on the streets, urging people experiencing homelessness to come in from the cold,” city spokesperson Joe Grace added. “Everyone is working around the clock to assist people who most need assistance.”

The severe winter weather Friday presented a significant challenge for the city’s Office of Homeless Services, which was already this month facing budgeting issues and questions about its fiscal responsibility.

Now, the office — operating under what’s called a “Code Blue” — must work with shelter providers across the city and deploy outreach workers to search for people still outside. Those workers often refer people to intake centers, where they are evaluated by social workers, offered food, and supported in finding a safe place to stay.

The Red Shield Family Residence, an after-hours intake center at 715 N. Broad St., typically only operates through the night until 7 a.m. It remained open during the day Friday and was accepting women, children, and families seeking shelter, according to Kelly Devlin, the director of Philadelphia social service ministry for the Salvation Army.

In addition, the Mike Hinson Resource Center, an intake for single men at 17th and Lehigh Avenue in North Philadelphia, was open and accepting clients on Friday morning.

Staff at the after-hours center for single women, Gaudenzia’s House of Passage at 48th and Haverford in West Philadelphia, said Friday morning that the center was open, but full. City officials later said that House of Passage was open and not turning people away.

Outreach workers said Friday that there was some confusion about where people seeking shelter should go.

The city’s own news release on the snow emergency directed people seeking shelter to a list of six intake centers, three of which were closed Friday. The list on the city’s website, however, did not indicate which shelters remained open.

Closed centers included the Appletree Family Center in Center City and the Roosevelt Darby Center in Francisville, which are both operated by the city, and the Veterans Multi-Service Center in Old City, which is operated by Veterans Affairs.

The Office of Homeless Services home page similarly directed people to those intake centers. It also provided a phone number for a homelessness prevention hotline, then noted that the office “no longer has funds for homelessness prevention.” Officials said Friday they were updating the city’s website.

An additional challenge as the snow event continues could be placing people in shelters after they go through the intake process. Some shelters are at capacity after taking in dozens of people during the cold weather this week.

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Jeremy Montgomery, president and CEO of Philly House, the city’s largest and longest-running shelter, said they took in 84 people over the past week seeking emergency housing during the Code Blue. Montgomery said the shelter, which is only for single men, is now at capacity and had to turn away people Friday morning.

But he said despite the situation, providers are optimistic that they can reach new people during the cold snap and winter storm.

“They’re with us right now, and we have the chance to change their life,” he said.

At the Hub of Hope, Project HOME’s daytime drop-in center in Suburban Station for people experiencing homelessness, clients lined up for a meal of roast chicken, rice, and vegetables and clustered around tables to watch the afternoon news.

Many said they were grateful to have a seat out of the elements on a snowy day.

“I can’t complain about the services we get here. It don’t get too much better than love and hope,” said Tyrik Dowling, who’s been staying in a shelter recently.

Valerie Scott, who’s getting ready to move into a new apartment after a landlord refused to fix a carbon monoxide leak at her previous home, said the Hub has helped her to navigate a precarious time in her life. She was especially happy the center was open on Friday.

“They came out — and they didn’t have to come out today,” she said.

On Friday, Hub of Hope staff were planning to stay open until about 4 p.m. The transportation company that they normally contract with to drive clients to shelters after closing had shut down for the day because of the weather.

Charles Pringle, a senior program manager at Project HOME, was hoping to find another way to ensure his clients were able to make it to shelters. City officials said that Hub clients could call their homeless outreach line at 215-232-1984 to get a ride to shelters.

“Right now, we want to make sure that we can help them stay warm and get out of that cold weather,” Pringle said. “We want to help in any way, shape, or form.”

During cold snaps, people without reliable housing spend much of their day figuring out how to stay warm — a task that can become harder depending on which services are open.

A Hub of Hope client who gave his name as Darryl said he’d sworn off shelters entirely because some make clients leave each morning, sometimes as early as 4 a.m.

“I’d rather go fend for myself,” he said.

During a Code Blue, people are allowed to stay in emergency housing all day, but some services only operate during certain hours.

The Navigation Center, a lower-barrier overnight drop-in center in West Philadelphia, for example, is open from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., even during a Code Blue, as part of “an agreement with the community to accommodate nearby child care programming,” city officials said.

The city is also operating a warming center during the Code Blue at Scanlon Recreation Center in Kensington between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Several people who spent the night at the Navigation Center made the trip to the Hub of Hope early Friday morning, and were planning on heading back that night. Though it’s standard practice at many shelters, Scott said that having to leave early in the morning — and line up at night to get a spot inside — becomes much more difficult in cold weather.

“They should have somewhere for people to be warm” while they wait, she said.