New Samaritan House sees jump in demand
Larger space seeing double the requests for overnight stays by recuperating homeless people.
msprice@charlotteobserver.com
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Volunteers, from left, Becky Farsaci, Kendal Shepherd and Donna Kowalski set up dinner at Samaritan House. Members of Forest Hill Church regularly prepare food and help at the charity’s facility, which gives homeless people a temporary place to recuperate after surgeries and other hospital stays. T.Ortega Gaines – ogaines@charlotteobserver.com
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Charlotte’s temporary housing program for recuperating homeless people is already nearing capacity at its new, expanded location.
Nightly demand for beds at Samaritan House’s new home in east Charlotte has more than doubled in recent weeks, and the numbers continue to rise, agency officials say.
In August, the charity hosted a revolving group of men and women for the equivalent of 332 overnight stays, said Brad Goforth, the agency’s executive director.
That’s compared to 160 overnight stays in May at its former home on Park Road.
On average, 11 homeless people a night stay at the charity, all recently discharged from hospitals in Mecklenburg County.
Goforth said Samaritan House is the only facility of its type in the region that takes both men and women who have been recently discharged from the hospital.
At last count, there were about 6,000 homeless people in Mecklenburg County.
“I had a fellow who left today after being treated for a facial fracture, due to being assaulted. Others come in for cancer, congestive heart failure, bleeding ulcers, a removed kidney,” said Goforth.
“They could have ended up on the streets after leaving the hospital, which is not a place for recuperating. They end up back in the hospital, which is about $2,000 a night.”
The agency, which opened in 2005, has an 82 percent success rate in finding its clients a place to stay when they leave the program, he added.
Samaritan House’s expansion was completed in June, when it moved to a home off Monroe Road that is 1,000 square feet bigger. The agency can now help 12 homeless people a night, about four more than at the old site.
Better still, said Goforth, it can now admit homeless people using crutches, walkers and wheelchairs, who were not allowed at the former two-story site due to fire codes.
The cost of the move was about $225,000, which was covered through gifts from Carolinas HealthCare Foundation and the Leon Levine Foundation. Money for renovating the house came from the Dickson Foundation and the Philip L. Van Every Foundation.
The charity’s annual budget is $260,000, and it has a full-time staff of four. It is funded by donations and grants.
Recent clients have included Alene Cruse, 33, from the Concord area. She had leg surgery and spent about a month at the house recuperating in a wheelchair. She’ll be leaving this week.
“This place wouldn’t have been able to take me in before they moved, so I’m very grateful at what total strangers have done for me,” she said. “There’s no way I could have recovered on the side of the road.”
Gwendolyn Smith, 61, of Chester County, S.C., came to the center after having a heart attack. She said her hospital bill was $50,000 “with a discount.”
Paying it will be tough because Smith was laid off from her job last year.
“I didn’t think there was any place in the world like this,” she said. “All I have to worry about is getting better. It’s a godsend.”
