Joseph’s House helps shelter homeless with code blue program
The shelter has recently seen an increase of people staying there due to the cold weather
TROY, N.Y. >> As New York enters into the heart of winter, temperatures drop, wind chill rises and the need to protect the homeless population also increases.
Helping those in need of warmth, shelter, and services is Joseph’s House & Shelter in Troy. When temperatures dropped below 32 degrees in November, Joseph’s House began sheltering people with their code blue program.
“Last night we had 20 individuals in our code blue program. Code blue is an executive order from the Governor’s office and it requires all social service districts, and Rensselaer County is a social district, to provide shelter to everybody who needs it when the weather falls below 32 degrees or there’s a storm,” Joseph’s House & Shelter Executive Director Kevin O’Connor said on Thursday. “We work with the county to provide that emergency shelter.
Year round we provide emergency shelter for an average of 40 persons a night. During the warm weather, we end up turn-
ing away about 100 requests a month because we’re full, though we try to do our best to refer them to other shelters in the Capital District.”
O’Connor said the code blue allows the shelter to shelter more people.
“What the code blue does, it allows us to expand our shelter capacity. Last year there were 134 nights where it fell under 32 degrees and it opened in November and closed in late April, so 134 total nights we operated and we served 329 adults in that program. That was a 16 percent increase over the prior year. The average stay was seven nights per individual. The average age was 40. The demographics of male to female was pretty much what we get year round, which was 76 percent male and 24 percent female and there were five percent veterans,” O’Connor noted of the increased demand created by the cold.
According to O’Connor, of those coming to the shelter for code blue, about 40 percent were living in the streets, 39 percent were doubled up and waiting for shelter, 12 percent were coming out of hospitals and institutional settings and about eight percent were living in their own apart- ment or housing.
“A lot of times that happens when the heat goes out or there are fires, so a small number, 26 out of the 329 people were displaced from their housing,” O’Connor noted of those displaced. “About a quarter of the people we served in that program had a disabling condition, mostly physical disability and some psychiatric disability,” said O’Connor.
O’Connor went on to say how the shelter will see different people during cold weather than they will usually see throughout the rest of the year
“The folks who come into code blue are a little bit different than the folks we get year-round,” he said. “More folks are coming from the streets, 40 percent is much higher than we get. We get about 15 percent year- round.
So what that tells us is that the folks are staying as long as they can in the streets and alleys and garages, but when the weather gets really difficult they come in but then a lot of times they end up going back out again.”
O’Connor also mentioned how its street outreach team has worked to identify those living on the streets.
“However, a number of people that we see are new to us, even though we have a street outreach team and our street outreach team identified 92 people living on the streets last year, a lot of these people are new to us so they’re folks that are really off the grid and not looking for any services at all and folks that we don’t get referrals on and we don’t find when we do our street outreach program,” he said. “We appreciate what the code blue does because it gets us in touch with people that we don’t normally know and they clearly are vulnerable people and people that have a lot of need.
So we really appreciate that code blue entices people to come in and allows us to expand services to folks that we were formerly missing.”
O’Connor also highlighted the continued need for donations.
“At this time of year we really need people to donate gently used twin sheets, blankets, pillows, pillowcases, we also are looking for new adult men and women’s underwear and socks. When we hand them out people are thanking us as if we gave them $100 dol- lars, they’re just so appreciative, so it’s really valuable, clearly to keep them warm and clean and comfortable, so socks are a real big need right now,” O’Connor said.
In addition to its code blue program, Joseph’s House & Shelter is also seeking volunteers for its Inn From the Cold program, now in its eleventh year.
“It’s an overnight program and it floats around at different churches downtown within walking distance and we shelter about 15 people in that program. We rely heavily on volunteers who accompany the staff member overnight and volunteers help greet the guests overnight and they walk from our shelter where they have lockers and they can walk over to the church hall and greet the guests as they come in for food and they usually play games and cards and lights out is at 10:00 p.m. and then people sleep until 7:00 a.m. and they come back to the shelter and get breakfast and showers and stored belongings and staff members helping them with their housing plans and that runs through mid-April,” O’Connor noted of the how the program works.
“So we continually look for volunteers with that program and we look for volunteers doing our street outreach program as well. If anybody has any questions about things to donate or to volunteer should call the shelter and that number is 518-272-2544 and ask for the volunteer coordinator,” O’Connor added of those looking to help out.