Mini Convention Center serving the homeless
Nome’s Mini Convention Center on River St. is best known as the home of the Iditarod. But during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, with no cruise ships bringing shoppers and culture-seeking tourists, the Mini is home to the city’s homeless population. The NEST shelter is closed for the summer season and the Day Shelter, located at the former BIA Building on 1st Avenue, isn’t large enough to allow social distancing. The Mini is large enough to keep space between people and but doesn’t offer all amenities needed for a long term shelter solution.
“The Mini is only equipped with bathrooms,” said Nome City Manager Glenn Steckman, who spoke from the isolation of quarantine. He just returned from a visit to his family in Pennsylvania. “So it’s not proper for housing people 24 hours a day.” A 24-hour facility would need showers and other amenities. The homeless people are able to utilize the showers at the Nome Rec Center on Saturdays and Sundays.
“The City is working with the various social agencies to try and figure out what’s going to happen this winter if the COVID—19 virus is still active and there’s no vaccine,” said Steckman.
Accommodation of approximately 45 individuals under the guidelines of dealing with the pandemic is a tall order to fill. “There is no solution yet,” said Steckman. How the pandemic will look in three months or six makes planning difficult. Whether the city will be forced to house people in the NEST shelter and then the Day Shelter, both of them being short on space, has not been resolved.
“We met with the City Council and they’ve been good enough to extend to us on a month-to-month basis the Mini Convention Center,” said NHSC’s Lance Johnson. Behavioral Health, Johnson’s department, along with NEST is planning to make a proposal to the City which would cover a year’s time. “The city council doesn’t seem to be inclined to do anything long term at this point,” said Johnson. They haven’t yet decided how best to utilize the Mini Convention Center. Johnson hopes it will remain the Day Shelter for the next year.
An informal conversation with a group of Day Shelter users outside the Mini finds they are pleased with the facility and happy with the service they are getting. All save one were from villages, particularly from St. Lawrence Island. There are about 45 visitors to the Mini on a daily basis. “There are some who are coming through Nome that we’ve seen before,” said Johnson. “Mostly they’re coming on medical and for one reason or another they’re not getting back home.” Johnson says they are sending more people home thanks to a grant. And not so many are returning.
To date there hasn’t been a single case of COVID-19 among Nome’s homeless population. “There certainly isn’t social distancing happening at all times,” said Johnson.
The Nome Rec Center will not be available to NEST and the Day Shelter, according to Glenn Steckman. “We’re trying to have some use of the Rec Center during the COVID19,” he said. “We want to see people being able to use the weight lifting equipment. We want to get the bowling alley back open because that’s a stress reliever for people in the community. It’s exercise.” Efforts to open up Nome’s swimming pool are underway as well. There is a problem with the pools physical plant that is being repaired. Social problems related to people being cooped up at home can be reduced by making recreation available. That need conflicts with the needs of the homeless.
Winter is months away. The complications of the pandemic make it tough to get organized and find some solutions. There are options the city and the social agencies can take to serve the homeless. But there are at this point no easy answers.