BETHLEHEM, Pa. — There are warming and emergency shelters across the Lehigh Valley, meant to keep people warm as the nights get cold.
Yet not everyone who is unhoused actually goes to those shelters — even as they may freeze.
The differences between warming centers and emergency shelters can be a bit murky, according to Bob Rapp, executive director of the Bethlehem Emergency Shelter, but basically, warming centers are open during cold nights and emergency shelters are temporary places open when there is need.
- Warming centers and emergency shelters are open across the Lehigh Valley
- Not all homeless people use shelters, often because of stigma or misunderstanding of the rules
- Some shelters require vouchers from the local police station
Both Rapp and Jeff Poch, executive director at Safe Harbor in Easton said stigmas about being unhoused and misconceptions about the shelters’ rules can be driving factors in people who refuse shelters.
For one, both shelters allow patrons to be intoxicated, as long as they are not disruptive or violent.
“One of the bigger components we feel with our warming centers is we want everybody to come in from the cold no matter what their circumstances are," Poch said.
"But I think with our facility here, it's a twofold program: We have our residential program, where there's no tolerance for drugs and alcohol in our residential program.
“So I think a lot of folks, at least in my facility, believe that that's the case with the warming center, as well. But it's not.
"If you're coming in belligerently drunk or anything like that, we'll call an EMT or we'll call 911 to make sure that they still end up in a safe place. I think there's a stigma that you can't come in, under those circumstances.”
'Some folks don't trust the shelters'
The shelters also do not allow drug use or drinking on their premises, or controlled substances to be stored. But substances aren’t the only reason people might be hesitant.
"Some folks don't trust the shelters," Rapp said. "Some folks don't like the close proximity of other people. Usually in shelters, it's somewhat crowded. So those folks would rather shelter outdoors.”
One security issue is having a safe place to store your stuff. Poch said you can only bring a couple of bags into the warming center.
“And then some folks have some legal issues that [make them] afraid to come in, thinking that they're gonna get picked up,” he said.
Rapp said that the process for getting into the Bethlehem Emergency Shelter requires a voucher from the police station, so some people with legal issues shy away from interacting with police.
“Most folks think that that means if they have any type of warrants, they can't stay here," he said. "And that's not true.
"Our shelter, we want to keep it a safe and secure place for our folks. We want this to be their surrogate home. And so we don't want folks who are wanted for serious crimes, especially violent crimes.
“And so the folks we asked to do those vouchers to keep hardened criminals and folks who would be violent out of the shelter.
"That does not mean folks with summary warrants. Those type of things are welcome here at the shelter. In fact, we often have folks here that have those type of warrants."
"We want this to be their surrogate home."Bob Rapp, executive director of Bethlehem Emergency Shelter
'The priority is the people'
A summary warrant can be issued for something as simple as loitering or for parking tickets, both of which can be consequences of being unhoused, when you sleep or park somewhere to sleep overnight.
Safe Harbor’s warming center does not require a police voucher.
Rapp said that the shelters still do outreach with the unhoused people, regardless of whether they come into the shelter to sleep.
One way Bethlehem’s shelter does so is through a bag lunch ministry on the weekends, where volunteers and employees hand out lunches to anyone who needs them.
“We want to help them in any way we can, even if they're out in the woods," Rapp said.
"And we will touch base with them as outreach to go out in the field and check how they're doing — especially if they come here for lunch every week for a couple months, and then all of a sudden, they're, they're not showing up, we'll go and see if everything's OK.”
At the end of the day, the priority is the people, Poch said.
“We're just trying to get people off the streets in those extreme circumstances,” he said.
Bethlehem Emergency Shelter is open from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m., with lock-in at 8 p.m.
Safe Harbor’s warming center is open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., or 24 hours a day during a code blue, which is an extremely cold temperature condition.
Management at Greater Lehigh Valley YMCA, which operates the Allentown warming center, declined to comment for this report.
