SAN ANGELO, TX — The Salvation Army’s emergency shelter in San Angelo will close Feb. 28 temporarily due to a lack of funding and the Concho Valley Homeless Planning Coalition, or CVHPC, is searching for temporary and permanent solutions to house the 44 homeless currently in the shelter.
The CVHPC met Wednesday morning in City Hall to discuss solutions to the problem. Salvation Army Major Stan Carr said the shelter is still open until the end of February and they are working on placing the 44 individuals in housing within the next two weeks. Carr says he had to borrow money to make payroll the last three pay periods. There is only one shelter employee remaining on staff.
Carr says they are simply out of money at this time. He says they are working on local, state and federal grants to reopen the shelter within three or four months. In the mean time, they will repair the roof and upgrade kitchen equipment.
City of San Angelo Neighborhood and Family Services Director Bob Salas conducted the CVHPC meeting. Salas said while the emergency shelter is closed his office will be the referral point for homeless persons seeking help. Salas says they have not formulated a plan yet and asked the members of the CVHPC for concepts at the meeting. Salas says the Salvation Army has emergency shelters in Abilene, Midland and Odessa and they may have to refer individuals and families to those shelters.
Major Carr said, “I don’t want to have to do this. But there’s simply no funding.” The annual budget for operating the emergency shelter is $500,000 and most of that funding comes from fundraising and grants. Carr says when the shelter reopens, it will be a 30 day rapid rehousing program unlike the way it has been operated in the past. Carr has only been in San Angelo for about six months and said some of the individuals in the shelter treated it as a ‘flop house.’
CVHPC member Lara Ozuna recently attended the Texas Annual Conference on Ending Homelessness. Ozuna made a presentation to the group Wednesday. Ozuna said they need to take a systematic approach to recruiting landlords and to reducing frustrations for homeless ‘neighbors.’ The presentation included finding funds to “support landlords in case of damage to property from ‘neighbors.’”
According to the CVHPC website, “The purpose and function of the Concho Valley Homeless Planning Coalition shall be: charitable, supportive and educational especially for the provisions of service to homeless individuals and the implementation and carrying out the provisions and intentions of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as it may be from time to time amended.”
According to the San Angelo Salvation Army’s website, in addition to the emergency shelter, the San Angelo Salvation Army provides worship services, emergency financial services and women’s ministries.
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Comments
Too many don’t want a home. Landlords make livings on rent, so why would they want a decent home to end up a flop house. The homeless at the lodge had showers and beds, should have used them to get a job. A ton of jobs available in town.
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PermalinkSo, where are all of these jobs you mention in San Angelo? Newk’s? I’m sure the homeless can get a job there or at another new eatery here making minimum wages - that should buy them a nice little house or apartment here...NOT! What is wrong with this town? No one wants big business that pays well, no one wants to fund shelters and no one wants the homeless camped out in tents. So, San Angelo is running out of choices. The new slogan for this town needs to be “Keep San Angelo Slumming”!
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PermalinkI received a message that the shelter was shutting down because of repairs. If they have no money, how are they funding the building repairs and upgrades?
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PermalinkWould like an answer to that as well. We were told that it would be closed for 4 months for renovations.
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PermalinkWho cares..... All that stays there are these drug and alcohol abusing bums that stand on street corners daily begging for a handout to buy more drugs and alcohol. Now maybe about 90% of these will leave for other towns and San Angelo street corners will be rid of these low life's.....
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PermalinkBut you really have sunk to a new low. Your reply is littered with the smugness that some people have about the fact that life has been kinder to you than others. You don't know them. You don't know what led to their being homeless. Some of them are veterans that have come home too damaged to live a normal life. Yes, some drink. They have reason. Some are homeless because of mental illness. Some have fallen on hard financial times. Are we such an unfeeling bunch of hypocrites that we now throw away people? San Angelo has been trying to "solve" their homeless problem for some time by making it harder and harder for them, chasing them from place to place making new laws against them as they go. The Salvation Army is one of the last havens these people had. They do damn good work in communities (no, I am not beating the religion drum) with little support. I have watched people walk by the kettles outside at Christmas, 98% ignoring them. Your post, unfortunately, is the way most people feel. Shame on you, and shame on this town for letting this happen!
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PermalinkI agree, there will be homeless people that need help. We should not judge them at there moment of need, give them shelter and then try to figure out what their issues are. To say "who cares" is a heatless comment and has no place in San Angelo.
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PermalinkAbout 40% of the nation's homeless are addicted to alcohol, and a fourth are users of other illicit substances. It's impossible to know everyone's life story, but with those stats and a little life experience, you gain a bit of clarity as to whom exactly we're dealing with on the streets, as well as to what more than likely led them there.
Many homeless avoid shelter-type situations, for the same reason they avoid employment -- they don't agree with rules and regulations, like showing up here or there, on time, sober and prepared for a day of responsibilities.
I agree with most of "Dr.'s" post except for one thing -- the misconception that destitute people would suddenly leave San Angelo, for a lack of a place to squat. The end result will be yet, more attempts at tent cities, and an influx of offramp panhandlers.
There are laws against panhandling, as well as loitering, but for some reason they don't seem to be enforced to any beneficial degree, as it's become demonstrably acceptable for high concentrations of beggars and bums to mill about, a stones throw from Central High School, as well as create an uncomfortable presence at the N. Bryant Mc Donalds, among other places. The laws were intended for the safety of the public, and to protect the rights of business owners. In larger cities, where the loitering and panhandling laws are as ignored as they are here, entire communities of hobos and druggies have been enabled to commandeer the parking lots of restaurants and convenient stores. It's not at all a pleasant experience, to have to muscle your way through a gauntlet of panhandling, human filth, just to get some gas or food for the family.
On a side note, when I was in HS, these sharp tongued military recruiters would approach us with their pitch, they promised us the stars if we enlisted. If we didn't bite, they'd throw in the moon too. We were assured and then reassured, that everyone who joins the military lives the life of a Rock star, with unlimited funds and amenities available to them and their families. The U.S. military takes care of their own, "damaged vets" too...always. I was told so by men in uniform.
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