Would Flagstaff benefit from having churches offer rotating emergency food and shelter services during the winter months?

Although more than 70 church leaders were invited to a meeting Tuesday to begin studying what it would take to create such a program, less than a dozen churches were represented at the presentation.

Bill Packard of the St. Vincent de Paul Society decided to invite the organizers of the Tempe Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program to Flagstaff after hearing Flagstaff's homeless shelter was experiencing financial difficulties

Packard said he envisioned that churches could offer similar services if the homeless shelter were to shut down for lack of funding, or overflow services if the shelter were having to turn people away.

But when he contacted local churches to invite them to the presentation, 50 declined outright before learning more or presenting the idea to their church members.

Packard added that several of the church leaders had concerns over vandalism or theft if they opened their churches to house the homeless.

In Tempe, however, 30 churches already offer their church sites to either house the homeless or provide meals to the homeless on a rotating basis.

7 NIGHTS A WEEK

Stephen Sparks, director of operations for the Tempe Community Action Agency, said churches in I-HELP offer their spaces once a week, or once a month, or periodically, he said. The goal was to get enough churches to participate to cover food and shelter seven nights a week.

The program started off small — just six churches offering shelter and food three nights a week, Sparks said. Now, more than 30 churches participate and all seven nights are covered.

"Guests" who stay in the rotating shelter must be on a path toward improvement, Sparks said. People with jobs are given preferential treatment. Those without jobs are allowed to put their name in a lottery system for whatever of 30 spots remain.

Tempe's I-HELP does not accept intoxicated people, nor does it accept severely mentally ill people because those populations are too risky to house in a church setting, Sparks said.

Participants in the program are trained in being "monitors" to enforce program rules.

TCAA is the nonprofit agency that administers and organizes the program, the moving of mats and transportation of people to the host sites, Sparks said. TCAA also accepts primary responsibility for any liability issues.

According to the Department of Economic Security 2007 annual report, the state spends $35.74 to house a homeless person in an emergency shelter a night. By contrast, I-HELP spends about $6.80 a night.

The cash budget to run the program was $59,000, and churches gave "in-kind" lodging and food to the tune of $187,000, Sparks said.

The program is only for adult men and women, and depending on the configuration of the church space, they sleep in the same room, Sparks said. He added that I-HELP has strict rules for cohabitation.

ONE FLAGSTAFF EXAMPLE

Stephanie Boardman, director of Sunshine Rescue Mission, Inc., in Flagstaff said an overflow shelter program is already working in a limited fashion in Flagstaff through the efforts of the First Congregational Church.

The church's pastor, after hearing that Hope Cottage was having to turn away as many as 90 women and children a month for lack of space, took the matter to his congregation. They agreed to open the church to up to 15 to 20 women and children a night.

As Sparks stressed about the Tempe project, Boardman also said that the women and children who use the church overflow shelter are a population that is on track to moving forward with their lives.

"We are doing this," Boardman said. "Flagstaff can do this."

When asked whether Tempe city officials or staff put any requirements on the running of the program, Sparks said they had not.

Boardman said that if the idea gets off the ground in Flagstaff, churches would need to approach the city to receive a conditional-use permit to function as a homeless shelter (see related story).

A CONCERN, NOT A NIGHTMARE

When Flagstaff Shelter Services opened its emergency winter homeless shelter to overnight stays in mid-October, chair Wendy White said that operating funds would only last for about two months.

Todd Sherman, director of the shelter, said that recent donations by the Forest Highlands Foundation and the Flagstaff Community Foundation have extended the shelter's ability to remain open for at least another month or more.

"It's definitely still an issue," Sherman said. "But it's now a concern and not a nightmare."

He said that even if the Phoenix Avenue shelter remains open, a church overflow program would help free up more beds at the shelter. Churches would receive only those homeless who meet the qualifying criteria.

Packard said the next scheduled meeting will focus on local challenges facing Flagstaff and tailoring any possible program to Flagstaff's unique needs.

Larry Hendricks can be reached at 556-2262 or lhendricks@azdailysun.com.