Nyah Bailey
HERES EXACTLY HOW IT GOES Intake is pretty decent and pretty fast for how facilities go. It took about 2 hours. There’s three meals a day showers and beds. They let you have extras of all the food they give you besides having more than two mini cups of juice even though they’re free and they have a limitless supply and the staff drink them for themselves. Here’s are the issues I experienced there: Some beds have springs that stab you in the back so you have to hope you get a decent mattress. They’re stingy with giving out supplies even though they have an endless supply so asking for an extra pillow or blanket in the winter will be a fight. Not allowed to bring lighters but I smoke cigarettes or snacks so I had to sneak it in. The staff constantly has attitude, especially the men, it quite literally everyone there speaks to you like you’re a child below them and they are superior to you. There was four decent employees there, light skinned female that speaks with a lisp, one of the guys that sit on the chair in the very front, a shorter guy (one of the blue shirts) and a tall light skinned female with nice round eyes. Those are the people you want to interact with and treat you like you’re human and with respect. I told them I have asthma and they assigned me to the third floor. There’s no elevator and the stairs are tall so I had to take many breaks going up the stairs 6 times a day to avoid asthma attacks and they did nothing to fix this. Theres no rugs or shower slippers so during the winter your feet are touching the cold dirty floor as soon as you step out the shower my hack was to secretly keep an extra towel and lay it out to step on. The rules change depending on what staff members you’re interacting with. Some staff will tell you curfew is at 9, some will say 10, and some will say 11. If you are a minute over what they think is curfew they will make you wait until 12am to come back inside even if they’re giving you the same bed. Not only that but they will pack up all of your belongings and put them away in storage. You will not be able to access any of your belongings until 11am the next day which is preposterous. You would think in a homeless shelter they would understand you have no where to go during the day and they will let you sleep but no, they’re policy is to wake you up and kick you out of the bed dorms from 8am-4pm. You can bypass this by letting them see you get up then lay back down when they leave. Same thing with the showers. They expect people to shower before 8am and you won’t be “allowed” to shower until 4pm. Just don’t let anyone see you to avoid problems. Asking anyone for help is always a negative because they act like you are bothering them every time you speak to them. You will be transferred anywhere from 5-21 days but they tell you 5-7 in the start. When you are to be transferred they tell you to pack up your stuff at 10am in the morning, but make you wait downstairs on a chair until pick up at 11pm at night. That’s 13 hours they make you wait on a chair. Their excuse is that they need to use your bed for new people coming in but the shelter has an entirely empty 4th floor, and most 3rd floor beds are only 50% occupied. There really is no excuse for this kind of treatment or policy. Why they wouldn’t tell you to pack up at 9pm makes no sense. Lastly the bus driver that comes to get you has a thick Haitian accent and hates people and hates answering questions. 5 of us were going to different locations and I wanted to know where on the list my stop was, as normal people want to know in what order their stop is when riding the bus, and he refused to answer and said “I already know where I’m going” not caring that thats not what I’m asking. It’s as if everyone hates their job and takes it out on the people they’re supposed to serve, whom of which are already going through the difficult process of being homeless. They have no empathy understanding or compassion. Certainly no respect. The only reason it gets two stars instead of one is because it’s at least a safe place to be.