This summer Lawrence Community Shelter moved forward in their search for a new home by announcing they had secured a new location and would start construction soon. The proposed location, in East Lawrence near K-10, will provide more and better organized housing, while allowing LCS to further its assistance of those experiencing homelessness. This is an exciting development in what has been a long and difficult search for a new shelter location. With this momentum toward a forseeable new location, the community should make supporting the shelter a priority.

According to Dianne Huggins, staff member at LCS, the search for a new location was a balancing act, requiring consideration of community support and access to social services. The new location meets many of these requirements. In order to build community support, LCS is working to obtain as much land around the shelter as possible. Loring Henderson, executive director of the shelter, said the goal was to provide “security for the shelter guests and comfort for our neighbors.” The new location is located near a bus route, the main mode of transit for those experiencing homelessness. Important social services, such as the Douglas County-Lawrence Housing Authority or Social Rehabilitation Services (SRS) are also nearby or accessible by bus. In addition, the shelter hopes to bring some healthcare on site through a partnership with the Baker University School of Nursing.

The most important consideration for the new shelter might be how to house such a large and diverse population. Though plans have always called for a larger shelter, housing up to 100 people, the closure of the Salvation Army shelter has added a new wrinkle. LCS has started receiving requests for shelter from families, while previously it almost exclusively housed adults. With the presence of families, Huggins envisioned the new shelter being designed to provide each group, adults and families, their own space. Currently the shelter only has its outside porch and a dayroom for common space, a situation it also hopes to improve by including a specified quiet area, potentially a library or computer room.

While the summer has been an exciting one for plans, the day-to-day situation for those experiencing homelessness has been difficult. Overcrowding is now endemic. The shelter employs a lottery system to decide who stays the night. Danny Goodwin, a guest of the shelter, said those who didn’t make it in were not able to get dinner at the shelter, and then must sleep outside, usually behind the shelter itself or in the alleys nearby. All of this contributes to an uncertain, stress-filled situation that Goodwin described as “hell.”

Plans and designs for a new shelter are an exciting prospect, but are not an immediate solution to the current unacceptable situation of the homeless in Lawrence. LCS officials do not plan to close on the property for a new shelter until Dec. 1, and envision construction taking up to a year. This means at least one winter and summer for a shelter that is already desperately overcrowded. With nearly 20 people seeking shelter being turned away already and forced to sleep in alleys, it is difficult to imagine a better situation as colder weather looms and more people search for shelter. Goodwin suggests that the Salvation Army reopen, at least at night, saying, “Let the families go down there, with the kids.” Currently, the Salvation Army has given no signal about reopening, nor has any group, including LCS or the City of Lawrence given any signal about how they plan to get shelter-seeking individuals off the streets and into some kind of housing before winter.

Until a new shelter can be built and occupied, it is imperative that this community take note of this situation and respectfully find a way to house those who need safe shelter.

— ­— Alex Doherty for The