For the third time, Darren Green is calling St. Paul Lutheran Church home. The Winter Hospitality Overflow at the downtown Vancouver church houses 30 homeless men nightly November through March. The longer he’s been homeless, the more Green, 51, wants to get involved in the homeless community.
He recited a haiku at the annual homeless vigil, held every Dec. 21 to recognize homeless people who died during the past year. A soft-spoken man, he felt nervous looking over the large crowd gathered in front of St. Paul.
“A human being
Not another statistic
A loss to us all.”
Green fits the statistics of the local emergency shelter system. Like most people, he has not left Clark County’s emergency shelter system for permanent housing. He’s bounced between the year-round and seasonal shelters and various housing programs but has not yet found stability.
“You can have a job, a car, be clean and still be homeless,” said Green, who also graduated from Warner Pacific University’s adult degree program.
He works part time and is trying to find another, better-paying job or get disability benefits to increase his income.
Lack of income is typically the biggest reason people face challenges getting into permanent housing, said Amy Reynolds, deputy director of Share, which oversees the Winter Hospitality Overflow program and most of the shelters in town. Compared to years past, the nonprofit is seeing more people who, like Green, are single and homeless.
Reynolds said the income needed to support oneself has gone up, making it more challenging to save up the money needed for a place. Renting a room in a house is typically the most economical option and can range from $450 to $600 month.
“If your Social Security is $700, it just doesn’t leave you a lot to be able to handle an emergency,” Reynolds said.
Shared living, however, doesn’t work for everyone because not everyone can live with other people. Substance abuse, mental health issues and a lack of life skills can also contribute to someone’s inability to move on positively from the shelter system.
Lisa Clevenger, 56, said she found success after working with a peer adviser at Columbia River Mental Health Services.
“Once I started going there, my attitude changed, because I had given up,” Clevenger said. “They encouraged me to keep trying.”
She had been homeless for 17 years and three months before landing a room toward the end of November. She said she had previously been a stay-at-home mom with no outside job skills in Woodburn, Ore., when she and her husband separated.
Most of her time homeless was on the streets in Salem, Ore., but she tried living in other cities and came to Vancouver to be closer to family. Clevenger most recently stayed at the Winter Hospitality Overflow at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, which houses families and single women in the winter. She said she avoided year-round shelters.
“Shelter systems and I didn’t get along very well,” Clevenger said.
Share did focus groups with people living outside and living in shelters to identify what can be overwhelming about entering a shelter and used that feedback to make changes. What used to be pages of rules has been whittled down to a single page of guidelines and expectations — and there are also expectations in terms of what clients can expect from Share’s shelter staff. That includes being treated with respect and getting a copy of whatever they sign.
“That has made it a better experience for clients, a better experience for the staff,” and it’s allowed people to have more choices, Reynolds said.
She said outreach workers talk with people about their individual fears of staying in a shelter and encourage people to try it even if they had a bad experience in the past, like Clevenger. Residents can leave at any time if they don’t like it.
Share House, the men’s homeless shelter downtown, has found increased success by adding a housing navigator. From June 2016 to June 2017, 23 percent of clients left Share House to move into permanent housing. Between June 2017 and June 2018, that outcome increased to 28 percent. During some months, as many as one-third of clients moved into permanent housing.
Unlike Share’s family shelters, there is still a 90-day time limit at Share House. Green said having a finite amount of time can be motivating. Staff expect to revisit this policy since most residents struggle to find housing in 90 days.
Clevenger said she thanks the Lord every morning for being housed.
“It’s such a relief,” she said. “I can’t believe how people can take for granted having a home, but they do every day.”
