Tacoma, Washington, church opens homeless shelter for single men in basement classrooms

Under morning sunlight coming through stained glass, 59-year-old Michael “Red” Adkins sat at a table inside Shiloh Baptist Church on Hilltop in Tacoma, while staff moved around him and Pastor Gregory Christopher was on hand. Adkins recently was hired as a dishwasher at a local upscale seafood restaurant. He is grateful for the opportunity and hopes it will be a stepping stone. He said he has goals and areas of his life he is trying to improve. Homelessness has been one of his biggest challenges, and it has affected him off and on for years.

Back in September, Shiloh Baptist, under Christopher’s leadership, became one of a handful of local churches that have stepped up in recent years to help Tacoma contend with its growing homelessness crisis. With space that would typically be used for Sunday school and memorial services going unused because of COVID-19, Christopher believed his congregation was in a position to help. Bunk beds and new mattresses now fill former classrooms in the church’s basement, providing nightly shelter for as many as 40 single men, a welcome to the stranger in need (Matthew 25:35).

Adkins said the shelter at Shiloh Baptist is not his first, but it is his favorite. He described the much larger Tacoma Rescue Mission and Nativity House shelters as often feeling like “zoos.” He said the church’s shelter is different.

“There’s just a more comfortable environment,” said Adkins, who moved to the Tacoma area in the mid-1990s. “I refuse to go down to the Rescue Mission because everything I don’t want to be around is down there. I just can’t live like that. I come here, I walk through the door and I don’t feel that at all.”

Christopher and shelter director Marsha Hopkins said that comfort is the goal. They said they are well aware that single men experiencing homelessness can be among the most difficult populations to serve and that resources geared specifically for them are often hard to find. They said they are trying to fill that gap for people who too often fall through the cracks.

The new men’s shelter is part of the city’s effort to add shelter space by enlisting local nonprofits and faith-based organizations. Over the last three years, Bethlehem Baptist and Altheimer Memorial have opened family shelters in Tacoma, and in total more than 100 shelter beds have been added to the system. In a column, Driscoll, the paper’s Opinion editor, described the city’s efforts as urgent but delicate and wrote that, amid an emergency with a human toll, the approach is not a perfect answer, but it is at least something.

Hopkins, who spent 40 years working for Tacoma Public Utilities before retiring and had no previous experience running a shelter, told The News Tribune, “We knew there was a need. We’re trying to get these men to go from tents to an environment where they feel comfortable.”

According to Christopher, moving part of the historic Hilltop church into shelter use was not easy. He first had to convince parishioners and church leadership that it was a good idea, and then his team had to make it work. He said the shelter has faced predictable challenges, including dealing with behavioral health issues and instituting rules prohibiting the use of alcohol and other substances. Even so, he said the shelter has so far been what he hoped it would be. In recent weeks it has served between 17 and 30 people a night. Just last week, a formerly homeless U.S. military veteran staying at the shelter secured housing.

Christopher said his commitment to the work is shaped by his own experience. He said he was once homeless and that his oldest brother died while living on the streets.

As he prepared to head out for the day, Adkins said he is grateful for the chance Shiloh Baptist is providing him.

“I’m just trying to move forward, have a stable place to live and be around good people,” Adkins said.

Source: Read the original report