GREENSBORO, N.C. — As fall turns to winter, members of the homeless community will need a place to sleep.
Guilford County, as well as both Greensboro and High Point, are working together to address the issue.
One thing Guilford County Chairman Skip Alston made clear is that this is not just a city of Greensboro issue, this is a Guilford County issue, making sure those facing homelessness aren't stuck sleeping out in the cold during the winter months.
At a meeting early this month, Alston said he was not happy with the progress made on this issue and felt that we would be farther along when it comes to providing more shelter.
"I am not satisfied with where we're at now. We thought we'd be a whole lot further as far as providing another 250 beds related to housing."
Earlier in the year, during an initiative to document how many people are homeless in the area, he mentioned there are over 400 homeless people in Guilford County. He was hoping to add another 250 beds, but it hasn't happened just yet.
"We started a task force two years ago and we wanted to make sure that we are addressing the problem from a holistic standpoint. We set aside $8 million to try and address that problem in the city in the county and then municipalities with the city of High Point. All of us have been meeting together quarterly to see how we might be able to address this problem together," Alston said.
Some of Alston's hopes for more long-term solutions have not come to fruition yet, so, the cities and county are looking at temporary solutions for temporary housing.
"We're looking for any available hotel rooms that the city in the county might be able to lease out," Alston said.
WFMY New 2's Nixon Norman learned while speaking with the folks of Greensboro's Urban Ministry, that this is not an uncommon practice. During the pandemic, the Urban Ministry itself rented and leased out hotel rooms for those needing shelter to follow social distancing guidelines.
Again, back to more long-term solutions, Alston has hopes of getting a women's and children's shelter in order so that mothers dealing with substance abuse issues can receive treatment without separating from their children.
"Women that are pregnant, women with small children five and under, would be able to go to the shelter, not be separated from their children, while they are going through their treatment process. They will be able to have a facility where the children will be in good company, they'll be able to have some resources, and the mother will be taken care of and that's something we hope to have online within the next 90 days," Alston said.
You may remember last year, there were temporary pallets put up to provide more shelter for the homeless community. Urban Ministries has heard plans to put up those temporary pallets again this year are still in place, with the pallets going up again sometime around Nov 1.