Most of Glenwood’s homeless are not jobless

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — It could be the person roofing your home. Or the person working next to you.

At least 75 percent of the people who seek services at Feed My Sheep — the area’s main provider for the area’s homeless population — have jobs, but no home to go to at night.

It’s an eyebrow-raising figure that Karolyn Spencer, who started Feed My Sheep five years ago, says shatters many myths about this area’s homeless population.

“One of the guys that was just here, he went off to work. He came in and had his coffee and had his breakfast,” said Spencer, who is Feed My Sheep’s associate director. “We stress here at the day center taking only homeless people who have come here to get a job and work. They are either currently working, or if they come, (Feed My Sheep) gives them a base to find a job and maintain a job. ”

Glenwood Springs’ homeless population is also unlike those found in other Colorado cities, Spencer said.

“What is different about our guys, is that they do work,” Spencer said. “They come to the valley in the first place to work. Our guys are always trying, they are always struggling. I always admire and respect their ability to survive in spite of the harsh conditions they face.”

The number of working homeless in Glenwood Springs is far above the Colorado average. Spencer said just about 15 percent of the state’s homeless population works.

Spencer said the reason why there are so many homeless workers in the valley is because of the combination of the housing crunch in the area and the fact that federal government housing vouchers aren’t keeping up with rising rents in the valley.

“The problem has risen to a point where we have (homeless people) working and they are maintaining a job full time, but we still can’t get them a place to stay,” Spencer said.

Three years ago, Feed My Sheep was able to find homes for 22 people using the housing vouchers.

That number went down to 11 the next year. Last year, the group placed only four people into homes with the vouchers.

“This year, so far, I have got one,” she said.

How big is the homeless population, and who is a part of it

Each winter, the homeless population in Glenwood Springs hovers around 50 people. During the summer, “it swells” to about 300 people, Spencer said. They live in cars or sleep in tents.

Spencer said her organization’s numbers are increasing slightly, which she thinks indicates a rise in the number of homeless in the area.

When Feed My Sheep first started, it was serving 155 people a year. Last year, the organization served 295 people, Spencer said.

There are many people on the edge of homelessness in the valley, said Tom Ziemann, director of Catholic Charities, an organization that provides emergency assistance and is a “big advocate” for local governments to address the housing crisis in the valley.

If those people who are on “the edge” face unplanned costs or other crises, they often start paying for motel rooms because they can’t afford to pay the first and last’s month rent and security deposit that many landlords in the area demand. That often leads people to become stuck in hotels, Ziemann said.

But because they spend most of their money on a hotel room, a sudden medical condition or another unfortunate event could lead them to seek assistance or fall into homelessness, Ziemann said.

Ziemann also said there seems to be a lot of “hidden homelessness” in the area, with people — especially immigrants — doubling and tripling up in apartments, trailers or staying with their relatives. There are also a lot of young adults who are “couch surfing” from one home to the next, Ziemann said.

Helping the homegrown

Many of those who are homeless in the area and seek Feed My Sheep’s support are homegrown, Spencer said.

“They have got parents here, they have siblings here,” Spencer said. “They have ex-spouses, children.”

Spencer said many of the people she serves are like Paul Friel, whose body was found behind the Roaring Fork Marketplace south of Wal-Mart on March 2 after he died of an apparent heart attack.

“He comes to the valley and he slowly deteriorates for one reason or another, and so he finally ends up homeless, but he has been working for a long time in the valley,” said Spencer, adding he had many family members in the area. “He had a skill. He had an education.”

Friel’s memorial service brought out his family and dozens of other people — including some of his former bosses in Aspen. It was the biggest memorial service Feed My Sheep has ever had, Spencer said.

Another homeless man’s body was discovered in March 30 in a cave near the No Name Tunnel in Glenwood Canyon. His identity has yet to be determined, but many people in the Glenwood Springs homeless community said they knew him. They said he kept to himself and wouldn’t leave his cave for weeks on end.

What Feed My Sheep does to help

Feed My Sheep offers breakfast, lunch, showers, laundry facilities and computers to the homeless. It also offers them a winter overnight program at the Silver Spruce Motel.

The overnight program has ended for the year. Next year’s program will last longer than it did this winter. The overnight program is expected to run from November 1 to March 31 next year, but that will cost $73,400. Spencer is now fundraising to pay for that program.

Feed My Sheep and the Extended Table — a program that feeds the homeless and others in need at the First United Methodist Church in Glenwood Springs five days a week — are the two main anchors for the homeless population in the area, Spencer said.

Other organizations such as the Salvation Army, LIFT-UP and Catholic Charities also assist the area’s homeless population.

Feed My Sheep, which has 23 volunteers, is a ministry and an outreach of the Colorado Baptist General Convention.

“We do not discriminate. We serve everybody. We do not proselytize, but we do have a religious emphasis,” Spencer said. “We do have a prayer everyday.”

One-third of the money to run Feed My Sheep comes from area churches, one-third is from individual donors and another one-third comes from grants. Business and service organizations also support the organization, Spencer said.

Feed My Sheep is supported by 28 area interfaith churches that provide in-kind gifts like canned goods and donations. Spencer calls those gifts and donations the “bedrock” of support for Feed My Sheep.

The homeless and the police

Glenwood Springs Police Chief Terry Wilson said the issue of homelessness in the city is as much about appearances as it is about public safety.

“It is definitely an appearance issue for a lot of folks, as far as when they hang out and when they congregate in the downtown area or when they dominate a section of a city park,” Wilson said. “They tend to (scare) people a little bit. They don’t look like the nice tourists that are coming over the bridge.”

Wilson said homelessness “crosses over into a criminal issue” in instances of excessive panhandling, inappropriate comments to tourists or residents and public intoxication.

Occasionally the police department responds to assaults involving homeless residents, but those are most often conflicts within that population, Wilson said.

The misconceptions of Glenwood Springs’ homeless

A common perception is that most people in the homeless community are alcoholics. However, Spencer said only 10 percent of the clients Feed My Sheep serves are affected by alcohol to the point they cannot hold a job or that it interferes with their functioning.

Spencer said that some people in the community also assume that the people she serves “are into selling” and using drugs.

“Probably five percent of my people are into drugs, and what that is, is marijuana,” Spencer said. “That is way below the valley average. They are not into meth. They are not into coke. They are not into heroin. They don’t want anything to do with it.”