Wake County and the city of Raleigh are now providing White Flag warming shelters for people experiencing homelessness due to freezing temperatures. White Flag warming shelters are places that open at night when the temperature drops to 35 degrees or lower and provide people a safe space to stay.
Vance Haywood, the senior pastor at St. John’s Metropolitan Community Church, oversees the only White Flag shelters in the Triangle area. The White Flag warming shelters are usually open from November through the first week of April. But, Haywood said the shelters are at capacity and they took a hit during the pandemic.
“What happened prior to COVID as the existing shelters would open up on cold nights, or during what we call White Flag nights, they would, you know, go over their capacity,” he said. “So, people would be sleeping on mats in the cafeteria floors and in the hallways during COVID that obviously wasn’t safe.”
He said since they had to follow COVID-19 safety measures, they lost dozens of beds.
“Last year, on average, we saw 140 to 150 people per night,” said Haywood. “And this year, currently, with the two shelters we’re operating, our capacity is about 101 beds. So, we're already operating at about a 30 or 40 bed deficit.”
For now, they are working closely with Wake County leaders to try and establish more White Flag shelters. Haywood said their long term goal is for the government to provide free housing vouchers that will help people experiencing homelessness, especially during the winter months.
