Willis Dady Homeless Services prepares overflow shelter as winter arrives

CEDAR RAPIDS — One year ago, the numbers started to become clear: Homelessness is skyrocketing in Cedar Rapids.

A year later, record counts of those living unsheltered in both the winter and the summer show the trend continuing to increase. Since July 2017, the number of people living outdoors has more than quadrupled. Last year, the number reached 107 — the first time in recent memory it has eclipsed 100. This year, the total reached 123 — a 15 percent increase over July 2022. Eleven years ago, the total was 11.

For several years, Willis Dady Homeless Services in Cedar Rapids has opened a winter overflow shelter, in addition to its year-round shelter, to save lives from dangerous chills.

Willis Dady’s director of shelter services, Denine Rushing, speaks on what’s new this year and how the community can help as the organization prepares for the next season.

The winter overflow shelter opens Nov. 15 at 1017 12th Ave. SW in Cedar Rapids.

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Q: We are getting into November, which is typically when you open up the winter overflow shelter. Tell me how that process is going for you this year.

A: It's going well. It’s not much different from years in the past, just preparing to get the actual shelter up and running, setup with cots and blankets and those things. And then getting the staff prepared with any training.

In years in the past, we've had an average of about 75 individuals per night. So that is kind of what we prepare for every year. If we had 77 individuals that show up, (for example,) we wouldn't turn them away.

The county had purchased quite a bit of cots for us last year, so we still have the majority of those. And then we also got a donation of cots. At this point, we have more than 75. We're always accepting additional cots, because they do break throughout the season.

Q: Have you seen winter shelter usage steadily go up? We’ve seen a substantial increase in the homeless population over the last five-10 years.

A: We've seen an increase in the population of unsheltered individuals, but that doesn't mean that the overflow shelter’s population has risen. It's an individual choice to come into the shelter.

So all of the individuals that we know outside are not (all) necessarily coming into the overflow shelter. I do know when it gets really cold outside, if people have other alternatives, they try to pull out any of those — family members or friends that may let them sleep on their couch.

We want to make sure that people are safe and warm throughout the winter. The last I looked, there was over 120 individuals that were sleeping outside, and we don't see 120 people at the shelter every night. The ones that we see at the overflow would be those individuals that do not have another option.

Q: What are some of the biggest reasons folks choose not to come to shelter, even when it’s brutally cold outside?

A: I think that there are some people that are experiencing homelessness that don't like to be around large crowds. You may have someone that suffers from severe anxiety, and they just can't stand being in a closed place, with so many people.

What I will say, from my experience, is that the ones that are not coming into shelter and that may still be outside and are choosing to do that — that's their personal choice to do that.

We do have the outreach team that still reaches out to those individuals that are outside. But the good thing about the overflow shelter is that it is there for individuals.

Q: We’ve had significant growth in our homeless population in recent years. What kind of concerns or challenges do you have with a larger population this year?

A: Because we are a housing first agency, our ultimate goal for each person is always permanent housing. I think that's probably one of the biggest struggles that we face — trying to find housing that’s affordable housing, that is safe.

A lot of us agree with that and feel that (housing with case management) would be best for the homeless population, or just populations of individuals that are struggling. But again, people in our community have to be comfortable with something like that potentially being in their neighborhood. So I think that's kind of the struggle.

A lot of times there's this negative stigma that is attached to homelessness. People want to help the homeless, people donate money, they volunteer their time. People are so generous and do a lot of things when it comes to homelessness.

But when you talk about opening a shelter in their community, or you talk about opening up a new apartment complex or something along those lines where they know these individuals who may be housed — it's like people don't want it in their neighborhood. Or they say ‘I don't want it in my backyard.’

But (homeless people) are already there.

Q: It sounds like one of the biggest needs is not only affordable housing, but case management for folks who have different needs than the average person. Is that accurate?

A: Yes. Case management and the follow-up is very important.

When someone gets housed, it's great this individual is now permanently housed, and they're off the streets. But then all of those struggles that they have before they got housing, they don't just disappear when an individual goes into permanent housing. It's still there. A lot of times, it's things that they struggle with that could potentially get them evicted.

One of the things that we see that individuals struggle with a lot of times is hoarding, and that definitely could be something that can be prevented, but most times hoarding is a result of a person's homelessness. If you go a long periods of time without something, when you come across it, it's (hard to resist stocking it.)

For example, even though it's June, (they feel they will) need these (extra) blankets. And then the next thing you know, you have 20 blankets piled up in your living room.

On our end, when we get individuals that come into the shelter, we want to try to address all of those things — hoarding, mental health, substance use, budgeting, all those kinds of things. The biggest concern is finding (appropriate) housing for the ones that we're working with.

Q: Has there been any progress on that front with finding adequate housing?

A: I don't think that there's any additional housing that's been created over the last couple months, but there's definitely a lot of work happening behind the scenes to create additional housing.

Q: Homeless advocates often talk about how shelter is not the solution to homelessness, but it’s an important place to get them through the winter. Tell me about the role shelters play in helping folks find long-term stability again.

A: We've built some really strong relationships with individuals in the community that have utilized shelter. It creates a sense of support. So even though an individual may move into their own housing, if they come across a struggle, what we're hoping for is that, even if they're not working with the case manager, that they feel comfortable enough to reach out to us with any struggle that they're having. We will do everything that we can to try to assist in addressing whatever that barrier is.

Shelter plays a big part in helping to establish like that stability with individuals. Every single person that's in the shelter has a case manager assigned to them, and that case manager is going to work to create a housing plan for them.

It may be an individual that experienced some severe trauma, it could be childhood trauma, could be adult trauma. And they're really struggling in their life right now because of that. We actually have a therapist on staff. The whole purpose of that is to create a safe place for individuals.

When you think about therapy, a lot of times that's not comfortable for people. People don't even want to have that conversation.

We also partner with Dupaco (Community Credit Union), where they come out and they provide financial literacy for clients.

We want them to be successful long term. I think the shelter plays a huge part in the success of clients.

Q: How can folks help the homeless population in our community? What are Willis Dady’s biggest needs right now?

A: We're always in need of blankets, warm hats, warm gloves, socks. At the overflow specifically, we could always use more cots, toiletry items like the travel size that people can just grab and throw in a backpack. There's many volunteer opportunities. We can always use donations and volunteers to assist in the work that we're doing.

(Those interested in volunteer opportunities can contact community engagement coordinator Sierra Pope at sierra@willisdady.org or (319) 362-7555. Money donations or supply donations can be mailed to or dropped off at 1247 Fourth Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52403.)

Q: You’ve been doing this over 17 years. Do you still continue to learn new things?

A: Even though I've been doing this for a long time, every year we're learning new things. We use that to try to improve.

So every single year … (the goal is) making the overflow shelter successful for the individuals that are utilizing it. So that means giving 120 percent every day, because honestly, this is one of the most vulnerable populations that live and exist in our community.

The other thing I think is really important for people to understand is that a lot of these individuals have literally been outside, living their entire life outside day to day, probably since the overflow shelter closed the previous season. So when you get individuals in the building … eventually you start to see all the trauma that has occurred with certain individuals throughout this time. It's very, very important for myself and the staff to be very attentive to individuals to also build those strong rapports where we can ask those hard questions.

The more and the more people are educated about homelessness, the more people will be understanding that it exists in our community. If you see homeless individuals walking in your neighborhood, (you may) look at it in a different light.

Q: The average person doesn’t often know how to interact with a homeless person they encounter in their neighborhood or on the streets. What’s your biggest advice on how to approach homeless folks?

A: Every homeless person that you see walking down the street is not going to go in your backyard trying to steal from you, or yell and curse you out. Some of the best conversations I've ever had have been with individuals that have experienced homelessness.

Everybody had a life before what they're experiencing right now. You never know what that person's life was before.

We don't want to diminish what they were. We want to try to build on those strengths of what they were before in the hopes to try to get them back to some of those positives that they had in their life before. (That means) us getting to know them, and having those conversations and being uplifting, and being respectful.

A lot of clients that we work with have nicknames. I don't call anybody by their nickname, I'll call the individuals by the same name that an employer will call them by. I do that because I feel like that's a level of respect. I feel like that's a level of respect that's showing dignity.

When you're sleeping outside, you have to plan out where you're going to use the restroom, because you can't go everywhere and use the restroom. Even though one gas station may let you use the restroom, you may not be treated with dignity and respect, you may be looked down upon. That can create a lot of resentment.

I think our community can look at things in a different way when they're approaching homelessness. That will help in trying to turn things around within our community and creating additional housing and support.

Comments: Reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.