(updated 5:36 am)

GREENSBORO - The souring economy helped pack overnight shelters this summer and fall, worrying officials that cold weather will drive more homeless to shelters unable to house them.

County leaders will meet this afternoon at Urban Ministry to discuss what some describe as a pending crisis.

The Rev. Mike Aiken of Urban Ministry predicts that an additional 60 to 100 spaces will be needed this winter to provide emergency shelter for the homeless. Urban Ministry runs Pathways Center and Weaver House, Greensboro shelters for families and adults, respectively.

There won't be enough space for everyone, even with extra beds that shelters set up in their lobbies and other open areas for really cold nights, he said.

"We just need to kind of get ahead of this hurricane before it hits," Aiken said. "What I hope we can develop is another emergency shelter for the winter somewhere."

With overnight temperatures already hitting the 40s and lower, Weaver House has been offering its lobby the past few evenings for anyone who doesn't get one of the shelter's 100 regular cots. The shelter will formally open its "overflow" space in mid-December, putting mats down in the lobby to create extra sleeping spots.

Wayne Goff, 40, a former drug addict who's now an ordained minister, has spent about two weeks at Weaver House after moving here from Virginia in search of a job.

He says Greensboro needs more spaces for the homeless and should give people more time at shelters. Weaver House limits stays to 67 consecutive days.

"That isn't really enough for people to do anything," Goff said. "Especially with the way the economy is falling down."

Stephen Hopkins, 59, also is staying at Weaver House while looking for a job. He's working part-time conducting phone surveys, but says he's not earning enough to get into an apartment before his time at the shelter runs out.

He says the system is gridlocked, with the number of people needing help and the lack of good jobs.

On North Church Street, a single mother and her 2-year-old daughter moved into Pathways Thursday. They had been on the waiting list since early September, said Director Mark Sumerford. There are 44 families waiting for one of the 16 units there, he said. Less than two years ago, the waiting list averaged 15 families.

"People don't think about this being a big problem for families," Sumerford said.

Keisha Smith, 35, found herself homeless after she was asked to leave her government-subsidized housing. She said there were problems when other kids began taunting her children.

Smith has been at Pathways for nearly six months, waiting for the Greensboro Housing Authority to find her a place large enough for her six children and one grandchild. At one point, her oldest daughter and another grandchild also stayed with her at Pathways.

"It's been a long wait," Smith said while 6-year-old Diamond worked on homework at the round kitchen table about three feet from Smith's bed. The children sleep in two sets of bunk beds pressed up against the walls. The family shares one bathroom.

Smith had to quit her job at Dollar Tree because she couldn't find babysitters for the children, and shelter rules require her to be there when the children are.

Smith says Diamond woke her up one day at 3 a.m., fretting over when they would get their own house again.

"That's my main thing, getting a place to stay," Smith said as she filled out forms for a training class she's taking on being a better renter. "Kids need a stable environment."

 

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