Durham lifts ban on giving tents to homeless amid ‘astronomical’ rise in unsheltered
The News & Observer | December 28th, 2024
As wet and cold winter weather settles in, Durham city workers can resume giving tents to people without shelter. Last week, the City Council said it wants HEART workers to be able to hand out tents again, while a broader encampment policy is being worked on. HEART workers are the unarmed teams that respond to some 911 calls.
“We are getting to the holiday season and, also, temperatures are dropping,” said Council member Chelsea Cook, who asked that a halt on handing out tents be lifted.
Council member Javiera Caballero, who suggested lifting the ban for the next 30 days, said the weather has been “miserable” for those sleeping outside.
“It’s not freezing every night, but it’s wet in the winter right now,” she said. All of Durham’s shelter beds — 77 for adults and 29 family rooms — are full, providers report. (The Durham Rescue Mission also houses people but has work, religious and sobriety requirements and is not part of the government-funded homeless response system.)
“There’s really not very many places for you to go, and until we can fix that, I do think we need to be able to offer people some comfort out there,” Caballero said. “The issue right now is our waitlists are so long that we’re in a terrible crisis moment.”
A report last week showed 114 single adults and 64 families “on the waitlist,” meaning they are unsheltered or at-risk of unsheltered homelessness. “These are people that we are not equipped to help in our current system,” said Charita McCollers, a member of the Homeless Services Advisory Committee. She called the numbers “astronomical.”
The total number of unsheltered people — those sleeping in cars, on the street or in the woods — has more than doubled since 2020. People can be homeless and staying in a shelter or with friends or relatives. The term unsheltered means they have have nowhere to go.
HEART bought tents with its departmental budget and workers handed them out on a case-by-case basis, though it’s unclear for how long.
Workers were barred from doing so this summer, though Community Safety Director Ryan Smith said they have a “small supply” of tents remaining. Deputy City Manager Bo Ferguson said the city paused tent giveaways after concerns were raised by the advisory committee, a 24-member board that works with city and council officials on policy.
Mayor Leonardo Williams said he understood the hesitation. “We could end up creating a tent city in the middle of downtown,” he said. Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton said he would support interim measures but didn’t want tents to be seen as the city’s response to homelessness, especially during cold weather. “When you cross a certain temperature, you don’t need to be outside in a tent,” he said. “We need to have emergency shelters. We need to have emergency contingencies to bring everybody inside.” Others said the city should do what it can for now. “Those are well-trained people who understand what is going on our community, who understand the needs,” Council member DeDreana Freeman said. Deputy City Manager Keith Chadwell said a “fairly comprehensive” encampment policy has been drafted and is being fine-tuned by the advisory committee.
Chris Nobblitt, on behalf of the North Carolina Union of the Homeless, urged the city to embrace the HEART workers’ role. “We don’t want Durham to set a dangerous precedent for the rest of the country in these uncertain times by denying life-saving temporary shelter during the coldest, darkest time of the year while these tents grow dusty in a supply closet somewhere,” Nobblitt said.
The council did not vote but indicated HEART workers should be allowed to hand out tents until the new policy comes forward.