BOONE COUNTY, Ky. — There is no designated shelter for the unhoused in Boone County, but that isn't stopping local leaders from doing what they can to keep the community's most vulnerable safe and warm when it gets too cold outside.
The emergency cold shelter program will activate Wednesday night and run through at least noon on Dec. 4. It will be the first time the pop-up effort will be implemented this winter and the 19th since the program was activated in 2020.
"The program really started from the Homelessness Task Force that started in 2019 ... that really came together and said, we really understand there's an issue with homelessness, with people experiencing homelessness within our community and what does our community need to do?" said Laura Pleiman, community services director for Boone County. "And so we took a look at the data, we understood who was experiencing homelessness within Boone County and then we looked at the resources and we realized that one of the more immediate actions we could take was developing a winter weather sheltering plan, which we took some time to do."
Pleiman said the county has contracted with Welcome House, a Covington-based organization, for the past five years to make the program possible.
A joint internal team will assess weather conditions and determine when to activate the service and for how long at a time. When it's cold enough outside, a street outreach team with Welcome House will head out into the community and consult with county partners to determine who requires shelter. Those eligible will be housed in a Boone County hotel 24/7 until the program is paused.
The program has provided 225 nights for 435 people since 2020, Pleiman said. Though it's difficult to say exactly how many people are unhoused in the county, state statistics estimate around 60 to 90. Pleiman said if you ask the county's community partners, they'll tell you that number is much higher.
"In Boone County, it is difficult to find those who are experiencing homelessness because often, in rural homelessness situations, people who are in encampments — they don't want to be found," Pleiman said.
The cold weather shelter initiative is primarily funded by the Boone County Mental Health/Intellectual Disability/Aging tax. It is a payroll tax set at $25 per county employee annually.
Many of the unhoused who will be checking into a hotel for the next week also frequent one of the county's partnering organizations — Florence Christian Church. Located at 300 Main Street in Florence, the church offers free laundry services and showers through its Fresh Start Shower Ministry.
"It started about seven or eight years ago when we had somebody who just came in looking for help and they said, 'Well you know what I really need is a shower,' and we had one shower that we could use for that purpose and then during the time when we were shut down because of COVID-19, we were also in the process of doing some renovations to our facilities and the first thing our congregation said we really needed to do was an expansion of that ministry," said Susan Diamond, head pastor at the church. "We have continued to expand that ministry. We really are at capacity."
Diamond said while the ministry provides an average of 30 to 40 daily showers throughout most of the year, that number will dip during the winter because those who usually use the services will have access to showers and laundry facilities at the hotel provided through the cold weather shelter program.
"And that is so important — the collaboration. Because no one of us can do it all. And so we do the best we can and we make sure we know who the partners are that will help people, where they are," Diamond said.
Without a permanent shelter, the county will continue to be limited in its ability to assist those experiencing homelessness. Diamond, who also serves on the county's homelessness task force, said she hopes to see a shelter established in the near future.
"I know there is some work being done on that," Diamon said. "One of the reasons that we really wanted to open this ministry is (to be) something in between. So hopefully one of these days it's not going to be necessary, but as long as it is we're here."
Even if a shelter were to open in Boone County, Kim Webb, who oversees the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky, argues there still wouldn't be enough beds for those experiencing homelessness in Northern Kentucky.
ESNKY operates year-round and is the only low-barrier cold shelter in the region. Offering 68 beds, the shelter is open only to men for most of the year but extends the invitation to women from November to March.
Last winter, ESNKY provided shelter to 495 people. That number included an increase in senior citizens and those experiencing homelessness for the first time.
"And we're seeing an increase in chronic homelessness and that is because of the lack of housing we have," Webb said. "this is a housing problem that requires a housing solution and one of the things that has been coming up quite a bit is understanding the role of an emergency shelter, especially a drop-in or a crisis or a night-by-night shelter model, which is letting folks come in every night when they need the service."
Webb said she's seen longer lengths of stay in her Housing Work program and she anticipates longer lines outside her doors this winter. ESNKY launched its cold weather program on November 1, and on Tuesday WCPO saw some people waiting to get inside as early as 2 pm.
"It's getting harder and harder to look at faces in our community, especially someone a couple of weeks ago was 77 years old and needing a bed that night and part of that is our responsibility and our commitment to our community," Webb said.
The state of Kentucky does not mandate there be a homeless shelter in every county, unlike it does for animal shelters. Unless that changes, programs and sites will continue to be funded by counties and municipalities or through grants and private donations.
In the meantime, Pleiman said Boone County is committed to continuing the cold weather shelter program for as long as necessary.
"Really we're looking at a life-saving measure here for some of our most vulnerable population," said Pleiman. "We're very proud of the program. We feel like we've been really responsive to the needs here in Boone County and we're really lucky to have the partners at the table to accomplish this."
