Realities of Homelessness

Late one Friday night, after lights out at the Emergency Shelter, there was a loud knock at the door. Actually it wasn't just a knock, it was almost frantic knocking. When I turned on the light, I saw Joe (not his real name) standing there in the pouring rain.
I knew Joe, like me he was a regular at the shelter. However, I was working there and Joe was looking for a place to stay. But I wasn't allowed to give him a place to stay.

How can a homeless shelter deny a man a place to stay on a rainy night?

It's the law, at least it was then. I don't know what the rules are in Cleveland, Tennessee now. But in 1992, it was against the law for me to give Joe a bed for the night.

There I was warm and dry inside a homeless shelter with about 100 empty beds and I couldn't let Joe come in out of the rain. I couldn't even open the door for him.

There I was, with a freezer full of food, a microwave oven, and a fridge full of good sweet iced tea, and I wasn't allowed to give Joe something to eat.

The shelter received money from the local and federal government and one of them, I'm not sure which, decided that someone could only stay in the shelter a maximum of 14 days. Every 90 days the count was reset. Joe had used his 14 days.

The rule was created so that the shelter and its funds weren't abused. Admittedly, Joe was probably abusing the system. The first of each month he received a disability check, but spent it on alcohol. By the 5th of the month, the money was gone. Because of the 14-day rule, in the final month of Joe's 90 day period he had no where to go.

I don't know where Joe slept that rainy night.

At this same shelter, the director would often rant about churches that helped the homeless rather than let his shelter do the work. The problem with the churches helping the homeless is that the help they offered was sometimes inappropriate. For example, one church put a homeless man into a hotel for over a month, paying all of his expenses. The church was being taken advantage of by this man.

In defense of the church, they probably didn't know what to do. Seminaries don't teach Homelessness 101. And in defense of the shelter, they helped many people find jobs and get moved into apartments. One of the programs offered would pay the deposit and first month's rent.

But for people like Joe, those with problems they couldn't find their way out of, neither the church nor the shelter knew how to help.

Have you ever had an opportunity to help someone, but really didn't know what to do?