Local homeless shelters keeping up with demand

Spending time in the subzero temperatures is uncomfortable for anyone, but for those who are homeless, finding a warm place to sleep at night can be the difference between life and death.

Iowa City's Shelter House, with a capacity for 70 people, serves upward of 80 to 90 a night in the winter, with extra sleeping spaces and a just opened temporary shelter.

Crissy Canganelli, executive director of Shelter House in Iowa City, said it's not necessarily that dropping temperatures have forced more individuals to seek shelter, but that the community has increased capacity because of the cold weather.

Turning someone away in July is unfortunately common, but not allowing entry in January could result in death, she said.

'It's not that there's this substantial uptick in people looking for shelter, it's that our ability to respond or our capacity to respond here locally changes because of the support we have from the city of Iowa City,' Canganelli said. 'We have more capacity to address the issue, the demand that's ongoing, that's present throughout the year.'

Iowa City provided $20,000 for the shelter, Johnson County gave $16,000 and local groups chipped in with some funds to provide additional housing.

Last winter's negative degree temperatures and brutal persistence forced between 20 and 25 people each night into the Iowa City City Hall lobby seeking refuge.

Officials with the Johnson County Local Homeless Coordinating Board began searching for a temporary shelter for the next winter.

The former Aldi grocery store building at 1534 S. Gilbert St. was offered in October by the property's owners, Hodge Construction.

The building — provided at a reduced rent and with more than $45,000 from Iowa City, Johnson County, United Way of Johnson and Washington Counties and the Community Foundation of Johnson County — allowed the temporary shelter to open this past Monday, just as temperatures dropped below zero and close to seven inches of snow fell.

'So it has from beginning to end been a great example of how all these different sectors can come together, and indeed oftentimes must come together, to work to find a solution to a local issue,' Canganelli said. 'We did get really lucky, thank God we opened on Monday.'

The temporary shelter only will be open for a few months and offers the absolute bare necessities to members of the local homeless population who are unable to stay at Shelter House because they couldn't meet substance abuse or programming requirements.

The shelter served seven people in its first night and was up to BLANK by Thursday, Canganelli said, adding that she expects that number to reach 20 to 25 people as word continues to spread.

Along with the temporary shelter, Iowa City's Shelter House, which holds a capacity of 70, has a temporary-use permit with the city to add 20 additional sleeping spaces in the shelter's lobby.

Last year the shelter averaged 80 to 90 people per night, but numbers haven't reached that level yet this winter.

'When people come here, there's nowhere else for them to turn, we're the last door. We don't have the ability to refer somebody on to someone else, we're it,' she said.

When winter ends, Canganelli said the board likely will revisit the issue to see if a temporary location can be located for next winter, while steps continue to move forward in pursuing more long-term and cost-effective housing-first programs.

Cedar Rapids keeping up with demand

Cedar Rapids emergency shelters began using a centralized communications system this year through Waypoint Services to increase efficiency among staff and coordinate open beds for homeless individuals.

Carrie Slagle, director of homeless and housing services, said, as with Iowa City, the demand for housing is a year-round need.

'We haven't seen an increase in the calls because it's gotten colder — we're still seeing a pretty high call volume each day, anywhere from 30 to 40 people calling for shelter are looking for openings — however, a larger majority of those individuals have another short term option open to them,' Slagle said.

Slagle said it is likely some individuals who don't seek housing in the warmer months are forced to reach out when the temperatures drop.

Numbers for emergency shelters have not been calculated this year, but Slagle said it appears the services in Cedar Rapids are able to keep up with local needs.

'It seems the local emergency shelters combined with local overflow beds offer shelter opportunities to individuals sleeping on the streets when that might be their only option this time of year. We recognize there is a population of individuals in our community that remain hidden,' she added.

Students provide a warm meal

Five students with Alburnett High School provided a warm meal Thursday to individuals with Cedar Rapids Willis Dady Emergency Shelter.

What started as a life skills project to budget for a home-cooked dish ended with donated meals to several recipients at the shelter, delivered by Page Koch, Sam Anderson, Maddie Volesky, Amber Porter, and Vanessa Hoyle, when the five students decided to add a humanitarian effort to the project.

'We needed something more than just making food, we wanted to actually have an impact on people,' Koch said.

Tim Wilson, Willis Dady executive director, said the class project, which originated in a small Linn County community, can be compared to an increased awareness of the services provided by shelter's like the one he oversees as well as the statewide need for such services by those who are homeless.

'There just seemed to be a heightened awareness of issues affecting the homeless and in particular around homeless veterans,' he said. 'It shows that there's a perception that homelessness is strictly an urban problem and this shows recognition that it's not, there's homelessness throughout Iowa.'How You Can Help

Clothing to be distributed to the homeless at Iowa City's Shelter House can be donated to Coralville's North Ridge Pavilion on Jan. 16.

The Boots on the Ground event will begin at 6 p.m. at the 2250 Holiday Rd. pavilion and free admission will available to anyone with one item of clothing, such as coats, hats, boots or long underwear for adults and children.

Matt Hibbard, Coralville Recreation Center Supervisor, said the goal is to ensure anyone forced to sleep outside in the winter has the necessary clothing.

'It really does underscore the needs for those individuals to get appropriate clothing,' he said. 'Shelter House provides a place to stay, but there are some people who are not able to stay there for whatever reasons, so there are people out there in the elements overnight.'

Hibbard said the event has expanded this year also to collect non-perishable food items as admission, which will go to the Coralville Ecumenical Food Pantr