Nome needs public restrooms
There are many things that an unhoused resident of Nome needs to survive: Comfortable shoes for walking across Nome, a warm jacket for the cool evenings when NEST isn’t open, a backpack to carry their belongings between the day shelter and their sleeping spot at night, and enough food to survive the day.
Among the most basic of needs, though, is access to a public restroom.
“We need a public restroom,” explained Nome Community Center Director Rhonda Schneider. “We don’t have a laundromat. We don’t really have a washeteria like some of our village communities have where someone who doesn’t have access to a shower can take a shower. You’ve just got to have a place to go to the bathroom. You’ve got to have a place to wash your hands, especially during a pandemic.”
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a need for access to a public restroom in the community. With shops and restaurants around Nome closed to the public, unhoused residents had few options for private and sanitary bathrooms and were often forced to defecate outside.
“It does lead to a health issue,” said Nome City Manager Glenn Steckman. “When you have unregulated [sleeping] areas, people perform their bodily habits and leave it out, and we’re trying to make sure, from a health standpoint, that that doesn’t happen inside the city.”
Several businesses allow homeless Nomeites to use their restroom facilities during business hours, including the Nome Visitor Center. “Unless they come in completely [under the influence], we let them use the bathroom here,” said Drew McCann, director of the Nome Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Sanitation is really an issue.”
“Often, we can’t find an open business or place that will let us in to use the bathroom, so we’re forced to find someplace private outside,” explained one homeless Nomeite. “It’s embarrassing. We don’t want people to see that. We don’t want tourists to see that.”
Several unhoused Nomeites told the Nugget an outdoor restroom option, like a porta-potty, would allow them to use the restroom when they need to without risking public exposure. Other community members, though, say a porta-potty or other public restroom facilities are not feasible within the city due to maintenance, cost and public health concerns.
“One of the issues you run into when providing a public restroom, like a porta-potty, is the lack of oversight,” McCann said.
The need for public restrooms and wash stations was exacerbated by the pandemic, and many cities are searching for a solution.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Philadelphia implemented a large public restroom in Kensington, a neighborhood known for widespread poverty, homelessness and addiction. The restroom is monitored by nonprofit employees and volunteers, who ensure the space stays clean and that no one is abusing the facility. Other cities, including Washington, D.C., implemented portable hand washing stations around the community, so unhoused residents could stay clean during times of public health risk.
One of the barriers to implementation of temporary restrooms in Nome is the high cost of construction and maintenance in a city where resources are already stretched too thin.
For now, unhoused residents will have to make do.