After three months on the job as executive director of the Community Shelter for HOPE in downtown Durham, Spencer Bradford faces both a period of high possibilities and high uncertainty. Five years after work on the first grant applications began, the shelter will undergo a $1.5 million renovation of its Liberty Street facilities.
"By the end of the fall I expect the renovation work will begin, and by late next year we will be moved back in," Bradford said. The renovation will completely overhaul the building, which was originally constructed to house the county's Social Security Administration. A 6,000 square foot section will be added to the existing facility to better accommodate the many single women and their children who come through the shelter.
Although the addition will not increase the current 125 bed spaces, it will allow for a separate group of private rooms with bathrooms for women with children, separate from the barracks-style rooms that house single men and women. The new facilities will also include more space for classrooms and programs. Currently the shelter hosts recovery group meetings for its residents, but Bradford envisions a wide slate of classes covering everything from independent living, literary tutoring and adult basic education to support group meetings and substance abuse education classes.
The city of Durham put up $300,000 for the project, and the state Housing Finance Agency and Durham County have each given $600,000.
Although work was initially scheduled to start last year, when Bradford took over the shelter he found "significant financial problems," which postponed the project.
"[Spencer] has been working very, very hard and diligently to put the shelter back on track, to be accountable and responsible to the Durham community and the people it serves," said Donna Smith, director of the United Methodist Mission Society on Queen Street, a group that works closely with the shelter.
One of the largest issues looming for the shelter is finding a temporary facility during remodeling. Bradford is having a difficult time finding optional housing. "We may have to use two or three sites to serve everybody," he said. "We hope we'll be able to stay close to downtown."
Smith added that if the shelter is far from the Urban Ministries Center, it would be problematic because much of the programming for the shelter's residents, like the soup kitchen, is run by Urban Ministries. "I don't know how they're going to deal with that," she said.
Although some homeowners in neighborhoods around the facility have voiced concern about the residents and their effect on the community, Bradford said, "Most of the problems they're speaking to are police problems and law enforcement issues." He added that if disruptive or illegal behavior occurs in the shelter, residents may be evicted, and that those causing the problems may be former residents. "No one wants that conduct on their premises," he said. "We're here to invite people who need a safe, clean place to stay while they get on their feet."
Smith added that while she believes homeowners' complaints are legitimate, the problem isn't simply one of the homeless shelter but rather of Durham city and county. She also sees a brighter future for the corner of Dillard and Liberty streets. "This block is going to look very different in a few years. A very attractive and well-maintained block. It will be an asset rather than a liability."
Maggie Jordan, a resident of the shelter since January, said, "People in the public got the wrong conception of people here. There are a lot of people here because of medical reasons, unemployment, the high price of rent, and they can't pay."
Another one of the major changes that may be coming to the shelter is a possible merger of many of the surrounding social help organizations near East Main Street. Organizationally separate, the shelter, the Urban Ministries Center, the Community Kitchen and the Methodist Mission Society have all worked together in the past to offer a range of care to Durham's poor.
But the renovation, which will include a physical link in the form of an enclosed walkway between the Urban Ministries Center and the shelter, has planted the seeds for a more formal merger. Smith explained that finding funding as well as volunteers would be easier if all of the social work organizations bind together.
"This merger... one of the reasons we're doing it is we believe we'll be able to serve people better if we consolidate our volunteers and our resources," she said.
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