5 cases grew to 45 in COVID-19 outbreak at Charlotte shelter. Winter poses challenge.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Charlotte homeless shelters have made changes to address both a growing need for emergency housing and the difficulty of providing it safely.
A COVID-19 outbreak at a Charlotte homeless shelter shows the challenge shelters will face as temperatures drop and people spend more time indoors. In about one month’s time, a handful of positive cases among the shelter’s residents has grown to 45, including two cases in staff.
Public health officials have identified places where people live close together — whether it’s a nursing home, homeless shelter or jail — as a concern for COVID-19 spread. As of Friday, the last date data was released, there were 35 locations in the county managing active outbreaks with a total of 560 cases total at those sites.
The Salvation Army Center of Hope, which primarily houses women and children, is among the largest active outbreaks in the county.
Staff began working with public health officials immediately, “seven days a week, around the clock,” social services director Deronda Metz said. The response so far has included two rounds of testing.
Mecklenburg Deputy Health Director Raynard Washington, in briefing county commissioners last month at the beginning of the outbreak, called any dormitory-style living “very challenging.” He said health officials were working with the shelter to have “the most rigorous infection control measures in place.”
Metz said they haven’t confirmed the source of the shelter’s outbreak, first identified in mid-November, though they think it may have gotten in through guests visiting family. Moving people into hotel rooms seems to have interrupted the spread, returning operations to what has become a new normal during the pandemic.
But the outbreak is a reminder that vulnerable populations, like those needing emergency shelter, will be at high risk as cases continue to climb and temperatures drop.
“Demand is so great. It’s so great,” Metz said. “I think that’s one of the things COVID revealed.”
How to help shelters in Charlotte
Shelters in Charlotte have been adjusting their operations for months since the COVID-19 pandemic hit to decrease crowding, space out sleeping areas and move some people into hotel rooms.
Reducing congregate shelter populations has been a key strategy since the beginning of the pandemic. The Center of Hope moved people out of the shelter into hotel rooms in early March, Metz said.
“The reality is we have to figure out how to stay in these hotels for a while,” Metz said of the Center of Hope’s long term strategy. “We don’t think the pandemic is going to be over. Everybody keeps saying, ‘I can’t wait for 2020 to go’ and .... we don’t know what 2021 is (going to be).”
The organization is currently housing more than 500 people in hotel rooms.
Roof Above announced last week it had bought an 88-room hotel in southwest Charlotte to convert to studio apartments next year for chronically homeless residents. In the meantime, rooms will be emergency winter shelter for Salvation Army clients, Roof Above CEO Liz Clasen-Kelly said.
It took less than four days to fill available rooms there after the hotel opened Dec. 1, Metz said.
Other programs like the Room in the Inn, where local congregations and other groups housed small groups of people during the winter, have been canceled this winter because of concerns around managing them safely.
But increased hotel rooms and other measures have created a net increase in available shelter beds.
Mecklenburg County also has leased hotel rooms for people with COVID-19 or exposed to it who are homeless or otherwise unable to isolate, which officials say they’ll continue through at least the end of March.
The outbreak connected to the Center of Hope affirmed an earlier decision to move everyone into hotels during a planned $4.5 million renovation at the shelter.
By the middle of this week, no one will be living in the traditional congregate living space at the Salvation Army shelter while renovations to expand the facility are underway, though day services there remain open.
“We thought while we are doing a renovation, it’s lessons learned about how congregate shelter may not be the best,” Metz said. “While we’re making the shelter safer, let’s be on the safe side and not get distracted with another COVID outbreak.”
The renovation will expand capacity at the shelter by 75 beds, update restroom and laundry facilities, and create more private living areas to decrease congestion. The project is funded in part with $2.5 million in federal COVID-19 relief allocated by the city.
Metz said the biggest win will be to successfully move people into permanent housing to free up hotel rooms for new guests. Housing vouchers to subsidize rent are a big help, Metz said, whose organization works to educate landlords and encourage them to accept the vouchers, which pay the difference between what a tenant can afford and total rent.
The Center of Hope also needs bedding (new preferred but also washed and gently used), inflatable mattresses, towels and cleaning supplies. People can also submit financial donations online.
Roof Above also maintains an Amazon wish list for its most requested winter items.
This story was originally published December 7, 2020 at 12:30 PM.
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