One of Greensboro’s and Guilford County’s toughest problems – homelessness – just got reshaped in a big way, and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners is rushing to find solutions in the wake of a decision by the downtown Greensboro Interactive Resource Center (IRC) that it could no longer operate in a 24/7 manner.
Guilford County leaders addressed the matter at the very start of their Thursday, Oct. 17 meeting – the first meeting after the IRC’s announcement – and, this week, county leaders have been scrambling to work with its other partners to find a way to help address the recalcitrant homeless situation before the weather turns much colder in the coming months.
At the opening of the commissioners’ meeting, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston said commissioners and county staff had been looking for answers and talking with partners.
Both the City of Greensboro and Guilford County government have been helping fund the Interactive Resource Center’s extended hours program this year; however, the center announced that it’s going back to its original mission of being a daytime service center where the homeless can check emails, take showers, get in out of the cold, draw up resumes and so on.
The facility was never intended to be a homeless “shelter,” and it didn’t offer sleeping accommodations for the center’s users even while it was open all night.
When, earlier this year, the IRC decided to essentially remain open 24/7, complaints from area business owners and residents reached a crescendo due to the many noise complaints, fights and other problems such as the intimidation of clients of nearby businesses, there was a lot of pressure from the City of Greensboro and Guilford County government to fix what was broken.
Now that the center will be closed at night, more of those problems will fall into the laps of the city and the county, which are now trying to figure out where the homeless will go at night in the cold winter months just ahead.
At the commissioners’ October 17 meeting, Guilford County Manager Mike Halford said that a lot of homeless people were connected to county support services through the center and he said that the relevant county directors are ramping up a communication plan that attempts to maintain a close relationship between the homeless and, among others, county social services and health services workers.
Halford added that the county, as it has been in the past, is committed to strengthening its collaboration with the Continuum of Care, which county officials describe as “the planning body in Guilford County that coordinates the community’s policies, strategies, and activities toward ending homelessness.”
The Continuum does things such as gathering and analyzing information to help determine the needs of the homeless in the area, and it implements strategies that include educating area residents on homeless issues and offering advice regarding operations addressing the problem.
Halford said the county is working with the Continuum to find answers.
“We are working to develop recommendations for assets,” Halford said, adding that Guilford County will continue to support the clients of the IRC through the county’s human services and its health services functions. He said that law enforcement and Emergency Services will also be on hand as needed.
Earlier this year, the Guilford County commissioners allocated $306,000 to the IRC to extend its services to include nights.
When those 24/7 services cease, the county won’t continue to reimburse the IRC further beyond the contract and Halford said he would keep the commissioners updated on the situation.
He added that Guilford County had been in contact with faith-based communities regarding the new wrinkle in the situation and the county is actively soliciting the help of churches and other faith institutions.
He also said there’s hope that they will be able to increase their efforts in helping the homeless.
Alston said at the meeting that Guilford County officials wanted to offer their gratitude to IRC for “trying to do something outside of its normal operations,” and, like Halford, Alston cited the faith community as a critical partner when it comes to addressing the new set of challenges as the weather turns colder.
He said that, given the restraints on resources and staffing at the IRC, it had become impossible for IRC to continue its 24/7 program safely.
The chairman added that the IRC’s decision to end the 24/7 program comes at a difficult time.
“Safe sheltering is critical at this time – during the cold-weather season – and this decision puts all of our partners in a tough spot,” he said.
Alston added optimistically, “But it is something we can and will overcome. We need to work together quickly to develop a new plan to ensure that our homeless will have a warm place to stay during this upcoming season.”
The fight against homelessness recently got a boost when a fund-raising golf tournament named after Alston raised $175,000 to help the homeless.
Forget the golf gig. Just another self promotion by Skip and company. Maybe if county and city would stop inviting the homeless and creating the issue, things might get better. Citizens have felt the sting of lies and the waste of their tax dollars. I have no reason to believe their intentions are honorable. Stop the waste and pet projects and you’ll find the money in the budget for this issue. Stop running the county and city as a charity. Run it as a business….if you can.
Find the cities that don’t have a homeless problem and see what they are doing differently from GSO. Are we willing to sacrifice all the assets GSO has created for economic development TANGER CENTER comes to mind?
Had we rather be a thriving community or a destination for homeless? We know the answer to that question and it is painful to reverse. The city was warned but they made their decision. Panhandlers in GSO once were required to have permits. What happened?
Otherwise GSO can keep doing what they are doing expecting different results.
Skip is sitting on the answer, he has a very large house, lots of garage space and 3 tiny houses out back. Open your doors skip or better yet turn the downtown money pit into a shelter
There is a major disconnect between the IRC Board, IRC Director and everyone else. “A program is only as good as the funders that fund it!” Quote Kristine Singlton. On the contrary If a program has poor leadership it will fail, regardless of the funding” I guess the millions of taxpayer dollars that have been given to the IRC through county and city funding has caused the IRC Conundrum!
The city has been throwing away taxpayer dollars that could be utilized by many of the other 80 plus organizations that are a part of the CoC (Continuum of Care) that are actually making a greater difference with the funding they receive. Several weeks ago I read the most recent article in the News and Record “Guilford weighs funding for homeless center”, The county and city should consider setting aside additional funds that will be used for GPD officers without giving more money to the IRC, that way we know that the area is secured and not functioning under the IRC rules. We feel that every time the city gives the IRC money it’s not used the way that it should be used, they operate under their own rules. Understand that the problem isn’t just inside, it’s outside and in the surrounding area because of the lack of leadership. Urban Ministry, the Salvation Army, YWCA, West End Ministries, Domestic Violence Shelter, Sevant House, Open Door Ministries, etc… are all low barrier shelters too but because of their leadership and accountability more people follow rules. I’m sure that they don’t have over 1300 – 911 calls so far this year. We have watched via live stream or have been to every city council meeting and work session concerning the IRC and each and every time a plan is discussed it changes and someone is confused. Transparency and accountability doesn’t exist.
Here are a few examples:
IRC Meeting with the Neighbors? When’s that taking place? There should be leadership in place with the IRC who will work with the neighbors and that are providing funding to the IRC through all of the city tax dollars. We have always wanted to help aid the homeless situation but continue to be treated very poorly by the IRC leadership and Board. A reminder that on July 25, 2024, ” Mayor Vaughan asked for a council consensus vote on improvement in services and especially with the communication with the surrounding business neighbors, councilwoman Thurm asked that there be ongoing conversations as to what’s working whats not with the neighbors and city council. Councilman Holston said that he wouldn’t wait 30 days to contact the surrounding business owners, he said “one of the best things they could do is turn your distractors into your supporters, have honest conversations with them, let them know where the challenges are and the successes are and turn them into your supporters”. Councilwoman Hightower and Abuzuaitor were extremely vocal about the IRC being more accountable and becoming a better neighbor. As of July 25, 2024 the only person that has spoken to Jim King exclusively has been Phillip Marsh. None of the surrounding businesses have had any conversations. They don’t want input, they just want your money.
Safe Parking – Kristina sent city council an email on July 19 stating that the IRC Board had rescinded the RFP application to the City of GSO for funding, which opened up $160,000+ that was set aside for Safe Parking by the city that could have been used for armed security. We were told that Safe Parking was being relocated to a church or place in proximity to GPD. But instead they never relocated the program rather moved Safe Parking from the back of the building to the front. They replaced the only unarmed day security guard inside with 1 unarmed day security guard inside that walks around a little bit on the outside. Last week I watched him walking around talking to someone on facetime for almost 50 minutes. There’s no portable bathrooms outside so the surrounding area continues to have the exact same issues with human urination and feces all around the area. Maybe a small part of the $160,000 + tax payer dollars could have gone towards portable toilets in the parking lot.
Outside Armed Security is essential for everyone’s safety and to say it’s not in the budget is unacceptable. Would you have unarmed security in the Tanger Center or the Greensboro Coliseum or even working at a grocery store? Why would the city or county not make funding contingent on having armed security as well as addressing safe parking transparency and required neighborhood meetings. The IRC has had more criminal activities taking place at this location than any other location in the city this year; drug use, drug deals, assaults, gun and knife violence, a high amount of rapes and sexual assaults, thefts, etc…… I personally believe that metal detectors are not the answer but accountability and change of leadship is.
MOST IMPORTANTLY the IRC tenants “that need help to get out of their current situation” have not been receiving the help they need because of the daily and nightly chaos. Ask the IRC tenants their thoughts on the leadership there?
The IRC leadership has fallen way short of delivering their promises in the 30/60/90 plan and the city and county need to work together with the CoC, Community and Faith Based organizations to come up with reasonible solutions to get through the winter months, WHILE working towards preventing homelessness, providing affordabile housing, you need to address those with severe mental health issues and substance abuse. We need long term solutions rather than short term fixes.
The biggest problem that the IRC has experienced this year is safety. The safety of all residents and staff remains paramount in low-barrier shelter settings. Shelter policies ensure that residents are informed of safety policies at admission and that this information is reinforced as needed. What I have been told is that Low-barrier shelters work to decrease intrusive searches of belongings while maintaining safety standards. We have been asking for their Visitor Code of Conduct for over 3 months so that we can have a better understanding of what’s allowed and what’ s not and we have yet to see these guidelines.
‘. . . 80 + organizations making a greater difference . . .’ ? 80+ ! the charity/nonprofit path to phat paychecks ! but not yours. 80+ fleas on that ‘dog’ ?
‘services’ should be close to the ‘needs’ . i agree with you . . . we could EASILY (porta pot) be doing better ! ‘blessed r the meek’ way over there!
I wonder how many resumes get updated at the IRC, especially at 2 AM.
The old Hebrew Academy has plenty of room and is fully equipped and staffed…I mean since there are not any illegal immigrant children there (so they say).
Just make me King of Guilford County, and I’ll fixit PFQ.
“Government. The big lie that you can live ay someone else’s expense!” “A people that wish to be ignorant and free, ask for something that never was, nor will ever be.”