Helping the Homeless During a Pandemic Winter

WAAY-31's Breken Terry discusses Florence's plans for caring the homeless during both winter and COVID-19.

Says zoning codes don't allow that.

Waay31's breken terry spoke with one of the founders of the non-profit and a board member to find out what's next.

I am here in front of room in the inn shoals' intake center while they can't use this building for people to stay over night- they have come up with a rough emergency plan.

When temperatures drop below freezing where it could mean life or death a few churches have stepped up to say they will house the homeless but this only solves some emergency issues not all of the problems. johnson-if we can't do that then we should probably close our doors as a chruch because were called to take care of other people and it is the simplest of simple.

First baptist church center star will open its doors in emergency sitatuions rather than risk someone losing their life in the cold.

Deacon jonathan johnson is also a board member with room in the inn.

He said the pandemic has really complicated things for homeless people and the non-profit that's here to help them.

Johnson- even at our church we've had a few weeks where we've had to shut down because of the number of cases, we were exposed to in our congregation so not being able to predict the future and knowing exactly what each week is going to look like or the day to day.

We have a plan one day then it moves on us.

So they tried to plan with the city of florence and asked the city if people stay at the intake center over night at the intake center with volunteers.

Manchester- the city's response was that our building wasn't zoned for overnight guests and that there were some overnight guests.

We understand those and we were really requesting an emergency because of covid.

The non-profit then sent this letter to the city asking for clarification on a safety plan.

Manchester- we haven't really gotten a lot of response on what that would require.

We're still really unsure of what that would require and freezing temperatures are almost here.

Along with a pandemic and no clear answers on how to safely help a vulnerable population.

Manchester-there's not away to quarantine yourself when you're homeless so their fears and anxieties are pretty high too.

We just try and see them as people and especially vulnerable people in something like this.

Look live tag: about a handful of churches have joined to help in the emergency situations but those plans can still change at any moment.

In florence bt waay31.

Waay31 reached out to the city of florence to ask why it hasn't responded to the non-profit's request.

In a statement, the mayor says quote "after recently discovering the room in the inn letter had been sent to me via a previously used email address, i have had the chance to review its contents and agree that resolution and swift action are required to effectively address the overwhelming needs of our homeless population.

I welcome an opportunity to host a larger, multi-agency