What happens to the homeless in light of the current coronavirus epidemic?
It’s hard to tell, because most of the previously known homeless camps are abandoned or otherwise vacant, said Kim Townsend, who coordinates Hattiesburg’s efforts to assist the local homeless population.
“Things are changing day to day,” she said.
Townsend and her outreach team are trying to find people with whom they have formed relationships, partly to make sure they are safe, and partly to help them learn how to stay safe in the current environment.
“I know that a lot of times, if you’re homeless, your first response if you get sick is to go to the ER, and we certainly don’t want that right now,” she said.
Because of the transient nature of the population, their numbers in that area can vary widely from week to week. It’s a mobile population, by necessity or by choice, even in the best of times.
The old motel near the juncture of I-59 and U.S. 49 has been demolished. Toward the end of 2019, approximately 20 homeless people were living there.
They relocated, moving across U.S. 49 into another old motel, what used to be the Magnuson Motel, which was closed for renovations. When they got removed from that motel, some of them moved into an empty 18-wheeler-style shipping container nearby.
After a short time, they were asked to leave the container, which was moved.
Now, an unspecified number are living in a vacant building in the same area.
Hattiesburg does not have an emergency shelter for the homeless.
“We’re probably one of the few shelters in this immediate area that were open even before this virus hit,” said Van Williams, social service program coordinator at the Salvation Army shelter in Laurel, some 30 miles north of Hattiesburg.
But even that shelter isn’t very large, and it’s almost always at full capacity, he said.
They have “mass housing units,” in one building, capable of housing 35 people, including 18 men and 17 women. Their population fluctuates, he said, noting that there hasn’t been an influx of homeless people in the last few weeks.
“I would assume they’re trying, like everyone else, to avoid gathering together indoors,” Williams said.
Hattiesburg did recently open the Changes Resource Center on Broadway Drive, but it isn’t quite ready for all of the services they plan to provide. Now, since the coronavirus began hitting this area, only one person is allowed into the facility at a time, except for employees.
Estina Holder is coordinator of the center.
“We are encouraging people to come together, but stay separate,” Holder said.
When people come by the center, only one person at a time is allowed to enter the facility, mostly to use a (frequently disinfected) telephone, pick up a snack bag (or water, or Gatorade), “things they can eat on the go.”
The number of people going by the center is shrinking, she added: “Before the virus, we were seeing 20-30 people per day. On Monday, we saw 20. So far today, Tuesday (March 31), we’ve seen 10.”
One of the primary things they’ve been doing is referring homeless visitors to Pine Grove, the mental health provider, Holder said.
“We have seen a few who have been seeking mental health services, specifically because of anxiety related to the virus,” she said.
The center is still collecting items for distribution to the homeless. For anyone interested in donating, they are particularly interested in items such as bottled water, canned tuna, sleeping bags, blankets, food items that can be easily carried but don’t need to be cooked, and Gatorade, Powerade or any other liquids that contain necessary electrolytes.
“Summer is coming, and it’s going to be getting warmer from now until about September, which means people are going to be dehydrating,” Holder explained. “We need to be prepared for that.”
Townsend said her job has come to a halt during the pandemic.
“My entire job is seeing people, talking to people,” Townsend said. “That has come to a screeching halt.”
One of the toughest parts is seeing people who had all of their paperwork done for transitioning into housing, but nobody is meeting with clients, she added, noting that people in the homeless population already have enough to worry about.
“This is just one more thing for people who have been thinking ‘I’m finally going to get some help.’ This is a total disruption for them.
“I try to tell them, ‘Hey, we haven’t forgotten about you. Hang in there.’ Homeless people in general are very resourceful, very resilient.”
Anyone wishing to make donations should make sure to wash their hands and use sanitizer, Townsend said.
“I don’t want to infect anybody. We don’t want to do more harm than good,” she said.
To donate, call the center at (601) 336-7193.
