Monroe County homeless center ends weekend services, blames staff shortage and safety concerns

By ELIZABETH DESANTIS

The Shalom Center will discontinue valuable weekend meal and shelter resources for Monroe County’s homeless community starting in May.

The center is a local all-inclusive resource center operated by Beacon, Inc., for those experiencing poverty and homelessness in Monroe County.

Beacon executive director Rev. Forrest Gilmore says that with resources being pulled from weekend services, he hopes to “fortify efforts to fully fund Friends Place,” which is its overnight shelter.

Beacon took over the Friend’s Place shelter in 2016 from Martha’s House after it went bankrupt, but the program has been running a deficit since 2019, according to Gilmore.

In addition to pouring more support into the overnight shelter, Gilmore says Beacon’s Shalom Center hopes to improve other weekday services such as meals.

Since 2017, the center has run off three different sources: city, county and corporate funding. However, since 2017, Beacon has seen a decrease in corporate and other funding.

However, a lack of funding isn’t its only problem. Gilmore points to issues hiring personnel willing to work on the weekends and who are equipped to handle a growing number of “behavioral issues” the center has been facing.

“We’ll have job descriptions up for months at a time. We're not getting the right people for the job, which has been a difficult challenge,” Gilmore said Friday. “But also, we've just seen greater safety issues, and so the need for really well-trained professional staff has become even more important.”

While the organization saw an increase in volunteers through the pandemic, that trend has since reversed -- as has the extra funding it was receiving.

Gilmore attributes increased “behavioral issues” to the expansion of meth into the Bloomington community going back to 2016. However, he says it could also be a “response to the massive challenges and anxiety levels that the pandemic has brought as well.”

Shalom Center staff hope to bring back weekend programs in a more sustainable way, although there is no timeline for their reintroduction.

Resources that will be discontinued with the weekend program will include shelter between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., meal services, showers, laundry and restrooms.

The Shalom Center is working toward a plan to direct the community’s unhoused to alternative resources during the weekend.

The center is also holding a Sleep Out event on Friday, April 22 to raise funds and awareness for those experiencing homelessness in Monroe County.