(updated 5:45 am)

Homelessness in Guilford County

GREENSBORO — Three groups offered Monday to open sites in Greensboro for additional emergency shelters this winter for the homeless.

County leaders met to discuss how to handle a rising number of homeless now that colder temperatures have arrived. Area shelters were full all summer, a time when typically several beds remain open, said the Rev. Mike Aiken of Greensboro Urban Ministry.

He predicts there will be a shortage of 60 to 100 spaces this winter.

The group will meet again next week to go over what they’ve learned about the suitability of the proposed sites and to review guidelines for what they would expect from volunteers.

“Really, volunteers are the key to this thing,” said Maj. Paul Egan, corps officer with the Salvation Army of Greensboro.

He offered the organization’s Aycock Street center, which could potentially add 30 spots for emergency shelter. The Salvation Army’s Center of Hope on Eugene Street already shelters about 100 people each night and adds 55 spaces during the coldest nights for emergency overflow.

Grace Community Church offered its West Lee Street building, which could house about 30 people, said Marshall Benbow, director of outreach.

The King David Lodge, a Scottish Masons group, has two potential sites, said leader Ron Tuck. A building on East Bessemer Avenue could house 30, he said. He didn’t say how many people a second site at East Market and Murrow Boulevard could hold.

If the sites work out, the next problem would be staffing them and stocking them with materials, such as cots.

Volunteers would need to be trained. Organizations already running shelters could handle that, said Manny Matos, director of Urban Ministry’s Weaver House shelter.

Perhaps the Red Cross could provide cots, Aiken suggested. Even technical advice on how to set up an emergency shelter would help, said Jehan Benton, director of the county’s 10-year Plan to End Homelessness.

“We need to flesh this out and to let people evaluate what they’re getting into,” Egan said.

The group also discussed expanding existing programs, such as shelter provided by churches through Interfaith Hospitality Network, and finding shelters outside downtown.

There are homeless in the Guilford College area, near the Old Carolina Circle Mall on 16th Street and at other shopping centers across town, said Michele Forrest, an advocate for the homeless for the past eight years. She helped start Street Watch, an outreach ministry that expands on other programs by working with the homeless to find housing and get them materials they need to survive.

“It’s ridiculous how many people we’ve got outside” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com