IRC, the embattled nonprofit serving Greensboro's homeless, will drop 24/7 mission
A Greensboro nonprofit providing services to the homeless will be scaling back its operations following months of friction with the city of Greensboro and uncertainty over future funding.
The Interactive Resource Center will be returning to serving strictly as a day center after less than a year of trying a new model of 24/7 service.
The center, which is located at 407 E. Washington St., provides people without a home a place to get out of the elements, take showers, do laundry and receive mail, among other services.
The IRC will continue to offer those services but will now do so only between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays.
The center will also end its involvement with Rapid Rehousing, a program that provides rental assistance, "in an effort to go back to our original core mission," said Kristina Singleton, the center's executive director.
She said the decision to make the change now comes after center leaders concluded they could not go along with some changes sought by city and county leaders.
"There were no viable options other than the suggestion to go back to a day center," Singleton said. "The others were things that involved armed security, metal detectors, having a capacity. Because we're low barrier, that goes against best practices for low-barrier resource centers and we are not interested in running a program where 50 people come in and then the 51st person gets turned away."
The move away from the 24/7 model marks the end of the pilot program after only nine months. The center switched to the around-the-clock service in January using funding from local governments — $300,000 apiece from Greensboro and Guilford County.
However, as demand for the center's services surged, so did calls for service from Greensboro police and other first responders.
At Tuesday's City Council meeting, City Manager Trey Davis said Greensboro police officers have responded to 1,600 calls for service at or near the center this year.
City council members and nearby property owners expressed concerns about safety and quality-of-life conditions, concerns that ultimately led to the city holding up its funding for the day center until the center's leadership formulated an action plan.
After the center produced such a plan, the council voted to provide $463,000 in funding intended to support the 24/7 operations for six months.
However, several council members still continued to express frustration at what they saw as a lack of progress. For their part, center leaders have pointed to their efforts to meet the goals agreed upon with the city, including implementing around-the-clock unarmed security.
Mayor Nancy Vaughan, who said earlier this month that it might be best for the center to scale back its operations, spoke briefly about the center's decision to do that during Tuesday's council meeting.
"We attempted to provide solutions but due to the IRC's philosophy of being a low-barrier shelter, our suggestions were deemed incompatible to their organizational values," the mayor said. "Unfortunately, the IRC did not provide alternatives for consideration."
Davis said the city had sent a notice of termination regarding its contract with the center for the $463,000 in funding for the center operations. He said the agreement, along with any payments for the city under that contract, will end after Oct. 31.
Singleton said the center hopes to have a new agreement with the city in place by Nov. 1 to fund the new, reduced operations.
The city does partner with the center on other initiatives and city officials said they would continue to work with the center on the Doorway Project, which provides housing for unhoused people during the winter. Davis said the capacity would increase from 56 beds to 83 this year.
The city has budgeted $192,500 in funding to the center for the Doorway Project, according to information provided by the city in July.
Davis said the city is continuing discussions with the county, religious community and other organizations in order to work on ways to make arrangements.
"I want to make sure that everyone knows that the city remains committed to ensuring that individuals in our community have access to safe and warm sheltering during the winter months," Davis said.
Singleton also said she hoped that, in light of the changes at the center, there would be increased collaboration among community organizations to address homelessness, which she described as a crisis.
"We've said it all along: it's bigger than one organization and we just need everybody to come together," Singleton said.
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