HOPE Calloway offers emergency assistance, but not an emergency shelter

HOPE Calloway provides emergency assistance to people experiencing homelessness, but it does not operate an emergency shelter – a distinction Executive Director Amber Sugg said is important in understanding what the organization can offer people who need an immediate place to stay.

In a follow-up interview with The Murray Sentinel, Sugg discussed the services HOPE Calloway offers and the limitations of those services. The interview followed concerns raised during an Aug. 13 Murray City Council meeting, where Murray resident Brigid Robine described efforts to find immediate assistance for an unhoused 18-year-old who uses a wheelchair.

Robine said she and others helping the teen were referred to HOPE Calloway and were told the organization did not provide housing. She said the options offered were one night at a motel and a trip to a homeless shelter in Indiana.

Due to confidentiality constraints, Sugg could not speak about the young man Robine described at the council meeting, but she could speak to the services the local nonprofit offers.

HOPE Calloway provides both emergency services and transitional housing, but the two programs serve different purposes.

“We have two small apartment (buildings) that we put people in for six months at a time while they get back on their feet, and that's it,” Sugg said, adding, “Our budget barely gets the utilities paid on those two properties.”

HOPE Calloway operates 10 transitional-housing apartments in two facilities, Gentry House and Opportunity House. Those units are part of the residential program, not emergency housing. Unlike the organization’s emergency services, applicants must meet certain requirements to participate in the program, and there is generally a waiting list for the apartments.

“When you move into our residential program, you become part of the HOPE Calloway family,” Sugg said. “It means that we’ve done the background check; we’ve done the drug test; and we have a family-friendly environment for you to come into and stay for six months.”

During that time, she said, HOPE works with residents on the steps necessary to move from homelessness into stable housing. Not every resident stays for the full six months.

Emergency services operate differently.

“We don’t require you to do a drug test or do a background check or anything to get our emergency services,” Sugg said. “Basically, if the hotel owner will allow you to come in, we will pay for your hotel.”

Emergency assistance can also include referrals for food assistance and vouchers to use at Angels Attic. Sugg said HOPE staff and volunteers then work to find a shelter or other program suited to the client's needs.

“The primary thing we do is make referrals,” Sugg said. “We have volunteers and our little part-time staff person that will call every shelter in the region to find one that fits the person and their circumstance.”

One of the options Robine questioned during the council meeting was a referral to a shelter in Indiana.

While Sugg could not discuss what considerations factored into the options offered in that particular case, she said HOPE generally recommends Evansville Rescue Mission in Evansville, Indiana, when someone needs more extensive support, calling it “one of the most impressive” shelters available to people in the region.

Although the shelter is across the state line, Sugg said its service area includes Kentucky, and the organization is able to connect Kentuckians with resources in their home state.

“When people just really need a whole lot, we send them to Evansville,” Sugg said. “The program is a phenomenal program, and we are so lucky they serve the tri-state area.”

Sugg acknowledged there is a perception locally that HOPE is simply “shipping people out” when it refers clients to shelters outside Murray but said that does not reflect how the referrals typically work.

If someone is uncomfortable leaving the area, she said, HOPE tries to find another option.

But finding an appropriate placement closer to home can be difficult.

Sugg estimated there are about 15 shelters in the region but said the number changes as shelters close or temporarily stop accepting clients. Most are small, with only a handful of beds available.

“They're very, very small, and they're in these tiny little communities,” Sugg elaborated. “So we have about 15, and they're on the spectrum of tiny to huge operations.”

Shelters also have widely varying eligibility requirements and services, with each program setting its own criteria for admission.

“Some places require drug tests, some require you to show a marriage license, some are for domestic violence only, some don’t take domestic violence (victims) at all,” she said.

Merryman House Domestic Crisis Center operates emergency shelters in several Purchase Area counties, including Calloway County, but only serves victims of domestic violence.

In Paducah, Paducah Cooperative Ministry provides emergency and transitional housing for single women and single mothers with children younger than 17, while River City Mission serves single men and families.

The Salvation Army in Hopkinsville operates an emergency shelter that is open to men, women and families. The shelter closes daily at 7:30 a.m., reopening at 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon on Sunday.

“Hopkinsville has a low-barrier shelter that (anyone) can go in,” Sugg explained. “If you’re standing in line at whatever time they open and you’re one of the first 30 people, you get a bed for the night. The next morning, you’re kicked out for the day.”

Also in Hopkinsville, Micah Mission House provides breakfast, lunch and daytime activities from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

“There are some really great shelters in our region,” Sugg said. “They are mostly in larger cities who can afford them because they’re very expensive.”

Murray's approach, she said, relies heavily on a network of nonprofit organizations, churches and other community resources. She pointed to Soup for the Soul, Need Line and Angels Attic as well as larger churches with established community outreach ministries, such as University Church of Christ, as examples of organizations already helping meet basic needs locally.

“That’s kind of how Murray does it – it’s a network,” Sugg explained. “It works at some level. We are not taking care of every person that’s homeless or every person that needs something, but we are able to help a percentage of the people who ask for help.”

Sugg said HOPE also wants to serve as a resource for smaller churches that do not have established community assistance programs. While some larger churches already have ministries equipped to provide food and other assistance, she said HOPE can help other congregations respond when someone in crisis comes to them by providing immediate assistance and helping find an appropriate shelter or transitional housing option.

“Our goal is not to be the solution for homelessness in Calloway County for every person, but it is to meet one person at a time, right where they are, and do our best to help them,” she said.