NEW ALBANY, Ind. — White flag shelters provide warmth and safety to the homeless population on nights where the temperatures drop to extreme temperatures and they are crucial, especially this week
"People are still dying on the streets. You just don't know it, because it goes on the radar. And our goal this week is to make sure that doesn't happen,” said Leslea Townsend Cronin, Executive Director of the Homeless Coalition of Southern Indiana.
But the location of the white flag shelter in Southern Indiana, has been up in the air recently, as the Homeless coalition terminated its contract with the Hampton Inn, located on West Spring St.
RELATED: Southern Indiana homeless coalition transitions to hotel mode for white flag emergency shelters
At first, Cronin was thought the partnership was the silver lining of the pandemic. Cronin said the hotel provided more opportunities for social distancing, but it also would give more privacy to possibly provide resources to those in need. But, quickly, Cronin learned the drawbacks of the partnership.
"The reality of it is that people at the hotel are not social workers,” she said, “They are trained in hospitality. They don't know how to handle someone who is being aggressive and has a mental illness. So it was one of those things where it was not a good fit."
Guests were left feeling unsafe, and after one incident this past Saturday, both the Homeless Coalition and the Hampton Inn decided to dissolve the contract. But with temperatures dropping to the single digits this week, Cronin was in a rush to find a new white flag location.
But she was in luck, as community members immediately reached out offering their services.
Catalyst Rescue Mission will be housing the white flag shelter through Thursday. Starting Friday, Springdale United Methodist Church will take over until the end of the season, April 15th.
The white flag shelter has been housed at both locations previously, but Cronin says things will be different this time.
"We are putting barriers up between beds, we are having a lot more PPE, and getting masks that people can sleep in," Cronin said. "A lot of those things that were issues before we moved, we are saying ‘What can we do to change this?’"
Cronin said these locations are more of a stable environment than the hotel.
“We want continuity, our homeless needs continuity," Cronin said. "They need to know what is going on and what is happening, days in advance.”
She said heading into the colder temperatures, the Homeless Coalition is dependent on their outreach partners to truly figure out what the homeless need.
“If we didn’t have this plan put in place, we really do not know what would happen.” she said.
That plan includes providing the homeless population with TARC passes, so that they area able to travel to and from the white flag shelter. In Jeffersonville, Exit 0 will have their warming station available during the day for those in need, as well as Nomad, in New Albany.
Cronin said she does not want anyone to develop frost bite while standing in the cold, waiting for a bus, so the white flag shelter will coordinate opening and closing times with the bus schedule.
She said despite the new locations being smaller, no one will be turned away.
Contact reporter Elle Smith at esmith@whas11.com or on her social media outlets: Facebook or Twitter.
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