Homeless for the holidays
Just as nighttime temperatures dropped below zero in Taos last week, community advocates and Taos’ faith community leapt into action to stand up an emergency cold weather homeless shelter at the First Presbyterian Church.
Catherine Hummel, executive director of DreamTree Project, was ready to start training workers to staff a cold weather shelter inside the former Phil Lovato Senior Citizens Center, where the comprehensive Taos NEST (Navigating Emergency Support Together) center is planned. Safety inspections and building preparation have slowed the pace of opening the center, which will eventually serve as a single destination for a variety of services that cater to housing insecure and homeless folks.
“We’re hoping to open the Ancianos building for daytime services fairly soon, but I don’t have a revised timeframe,” Hummel said. “We’ll just have to see how the walk-through goes.”
“There’s never been just a basic cold weather shelter,” said First Presbyterian Pastor Ginna Bairby, noting that the year-round overnight shelter operated by Taos Coalition to End Homelessness at 220 Albright Street is only open to men. The First Presbyterian shelter, located at 215 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, will likely remain open until sometime in February. It’s open to men, women and non genderexclusive people over the age of 18. HEART of Taos and DreamTree are offering hotel vouchers to families and individuals with children under the age of 18.
“We were almost ready [to open NEST] and then we saw the temperatures plummeting [last] Wednesday (Dec. 14); Catherine called me and said, ‘I’ll stay the night, can you just open? It’s really freaking cold,’” Bairby recalled. We didn’t have overnight staff, but jumped on Google Meet and started asking church members to help, and we got a couple people. Catherine gave us a quick Narcan 101, and that was it. We opened the doors that night.”
Rev. Jill Cline had originally pledged to donate space on several days of the week for a cold weather shelter at St. James Episcopal Church, but plumbing issues there outweighed the roof failure that First Presbyterian only recently had repaired — at a cost of
$150,000 — Bairby noted. So, First Presbyterian took on the responsibility of creating the shelter space seven days a week.
“It was two pastors and two folks from our church” on the first night, Bairby said, adding that as of last Friday (Dec. 16) the shelter has seen between two and three individuals show up each night. There is now a dedicated certified security guard, thanks to David Elliot, founder of Enchanted Circle Community Organizations Active in Disaster
“He said, ‘I know just the guy to call, who can do it by himself and not be worried,’” said security guard William Burnette, who showed up at a moment’s notice. “He knew my military background and training and called me in.”
Bairby said that 12-step groups happily moved their meetings to a different space in the church so the shelter could be set up in the room where Alcoholics Anonymous and others typically meet. The church’s mission committee “unanimously said ‘yeah’” to the idea, and took it to the church council, which also said “yes.”
“It’s pretty clear from the Christian faith, and pretty much every faith tradition: take care of those who are vulnerable,” Bairby said, noting that the week in October when DreamTree first broached the topic of opening a cold weather shelter also happened to be the week she delivered a sermon that discussed Isaiah 58.
“What does God seek? For you to give your food to the hungry and invite the homeless poor into your home,” Bairby said, quoting scripture. “That’s pretty straightforward.”
One thing gives Hummel a pang when she thinks about it. It’s a holiday tradition to donate to charities and help those who are less fortunate. But what about the rest of the year?
“It is a time when people are more generous and supportive, and in some ways, there’s a bitter sting to it because there’s a reminder of the people who are invisible to us the rest of the year,” Hummel said. “And they’re like, ‘where were you 3 months ago?’ It can be a really disconcerting experience in terms of the people appreciating the generosity, but also having the real sense of being forgotten for the past 11 months.”
A self-described homeless man who lives in Taos and agreed to speak to the Taos News on condition of anonymity said American culture isn’t equipped to help homeless people out of the “hole” many find themselves in.
“Some people are just viciously selfish and they just don’t care,” he said. “They just want, want, want.”
Because their circumstances are so varied and some of them migrate seasonally, Hummel said it’s difficult to estimate how many homeless or housing-insecure people live full time in Taos County.
The latest Annual Homeless Assessment Report, compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, showed that the nation’s homeless population stayed relatively static between 2020 and 2021, with some states, like New Mexico, experiencing a decline in chronic homelessness over the same period. But over the past decadeand-a-half, homelessness rates have increased in New Mexico.
“Twenty-one states reported decreases in the number of chronically-homeless individuals staying in sheltered locations between 2020 and 2021. The largest absolute decreases were in New Mexico (306 fewer chronically-homeless individuals), Pennsylvania (226 fewer), and Maryland (217),” according to the HUD report.
The decline — 4.8 percent compared to the previous year — wasn’t significant enough to reverse the state’s years-long trend of rising levels of homelessness, however. The number of homeless adults in New Mexico rose by 8 percent between 2014 and 2018, for example, according to HUD data; and there’s been a 12.8 percent rise in the chronically homeless population since 2007.
People experience homelessness for a variety of reasons, including untreated mental illness, domestic violence, substance use disorders and sudden changes in income.
Jack Wright, who has lived — mostly housed and working — in Taos for 28 years, said he “hit a bump in the road” earlier this year that left him with only his vehicle to sleep in. He’s been sleeping at the Taos Men’s Shelter for four months while he waits for a rental unit that will accept his Section 8 housing voucher in lieu of most of the rent.
He’s been on a long waiting list, but “will probably be moving out of here in another month, maybe sooner.”
“People come here from Godknows-where, all the time,” Wright said of the Men’s Shelter, which has more than a dozen beds on offer each night, all of which are typically full at this time of year. Wright gave kudos to the Taos Coalition to End Homelessness and the many samaritans, restaurants and stores that deliver food and supplies to the shelter on a daily basis, including enough hot meals every night to feed everyone who shows up.
“We get donations, and restaurants like Mantes [Chow Cart] bring food and stuff,” he said. “Some of the churches bring food, although I can get my own food if I want with food stamps.
“I get social security,” Wright added. “I’m just waitin’ on a place. Like everyone else here, I’m just waiting on a place.”
Wright hadn’t heard about the cold weather shelter at First Presbyterian, but acknowledged he has heard of people who have died of exposure in Taos.
“I never seen it, but I’ve heard of it happening. Anybody’s gonna croak if they’re out in 10-below weather.”
The anonymous homeless man walked up to the Taos News after Wright finished his statement about potentially deadly freezing temperatures.
“I’m homeless. It’s cold as [expletive] out here, how do you think I’m doing?” he responded, when asked how he was doing. “It’s not as if I’m preparing for the red carpet at the Oscars tonight.”
Bairby noted that word has been spreading about the cold weather shelter. She hopes that, in addition to referrals from Holy Cross Medical Center and local law enforcement, members of the Taos community will tell unsheltered folks who appear to be struggling on cold nights that there’s a place to go to.
A young man who identified himself as David as he exited the new cold weather shelter said he’s been living on the streets for four years.
“When you kick down on the streets, you mentally are suffering because it’s a trust thing; [you’re] trying to trust somebody, you know, and not be screwed over,” he said. “If we want to get rid of homelessness, we need to start using less excuses against someone’s issues [in their] own life. There should be no homeless here.”
The shelter is open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., and people are welcome to drop in anytime they need to during the night. There’s no meal at night but “we’re providing a to-go breakfast, and hot drinks and snacks every night.” There are bathrooms, but no showers; however vouchers are also available for free showers at the Taos Youth and Family Center.