Homeless in Myrtle Beach area have one option on frigid nights: Street Reach

Some Myrtle Beach area churches are still trying to figure out a plan that would allow them to open as shelters for homeless in Myrtle Beach on frigid nights.

Two churches opened their doors to the homeless last winter, but their efforts were halted when one of them was cited for a fire code violation. Citizens Concerned for the Homeless of Myrtle Beach recently asked the city to change the law to allow churches to be another option, but city officials said the rule is a state code and out of their hands.

Though other shelters operate in the Myrtle Beach area, there’s not enough beds to meet demand, the churches say. Shelter operators say there is enough space for everyone who seeks shelter.

A freeze warning was issued for the Myrtle Beach area in the wee hours of Tuesday, with temperatures predicted to drop as low as 30 degrees. With the churches unable to open as shelters, Citizens Concerned for the Homeless prepared to hand out blankets and offer rides to anyone who wanted to go to Street Reach.

“That’s all we can commit to right now,” Shanna Morascini of St. Philip Lutheran Church. “We’re scheduled to meet next Tuesday [Dec. 1] to talk about our next steps.”

Street Reach will be open to anyone seeking shelter from the freezing temperatures associated with “code blue” nights, New Directions Executive Director Kathy Jenkins said Monday as she gave a tour of a new shelter for families and single parents with children on Campbell Road. The former Myrtle Beach Haven was renovated and reopened as the New Directions for Families shelter on Friday. It can house a maximum of 55 guests.

Street Reach at 1005 Osceola St. can house up to 100 extra homeless on code blue nights, Jenkins said, adding that no one will be turned away.

But advocates among a group seeking to house homeless in churches on freezing nights say that some of the homeless, turned away or not, refuse to go to Street Reach. Sun Coast Christian Church and St. Philip Lutheran Church opened their doors last winter to displaced residents after hearing about William Henry Jr. Henry’s lifeless body was found in an abandoned building last winter as temperatures dipped to a low 17 degrees.

Sun Coast was cited with a fire code violation earlier this year when it was being used as a shelter.

The city had more than 28 code blue nights last winter, Morascini told the Myrtle Beach City Council on Nov. 10. Morascini said churches were able to offer shelter to the homeless on six of those nights before they were cited for violating fire code.

Morascini, St. Philip Lutheran Church Pastor Jason Lee and retired physician Bill Davis – representing a group called Citizens Concerned for the Homeless of Myrtle Beach – pleaded with City Council to change the code.

“There is an ordinance on the books… that states no building can be used to sleep people overnight if it was not originally intended to do so, such as a church,” Morascini said. “We’re asking that the city modify or change that ordinance to include six words: ‘except in a house of worship.’ Our group would like to use a house of worship at night in a code blue emergency to shelter the homeless overnight from freezing cold weather.”

Last year, volunteers with the church picked up the homeless from Chapin Park, drove them to St. Philip or Sun Coast and gave them food prepared and brought in from outside the church. The guests were offered inflated air mattresses and blankets for bedding and, in the morning, they were offered a ride to the Community Kitchen for a hot breakfast.

Volunteers stayed up all night to make sure their guests were safe, said Morascini, who served on the board of a similar program called Family Promise in New Jersey. The nationwide program uses churches as temporary housing for the homeless, working with cities and neighbors to protect the homeless while adhering to laws, she said.

“We saw a need and filled it,” Morascini said of last winter’s outreach. “The city has limited resources and does their best on really cold nights – however, there is only one place in the city where the homeless can find shelter.”

The fire code remains unchanged. City attorney Thomas Ellenburg said it cannot be modified by the city.

“Chapter 6 of the South Carolina code dictates what codes must be adopted,” he said, and “the fire code is among those that we are required to adopt. We do not have the legal ability to modify those required codes.”

Ellenburg told the group they had two options: seek a change in the code from the South Carolina Building Codes Council or meet the code as it currently reads.

Advocates lobbied the city council to let them continue the Christian call to help their neighbors – citing examples of other places like schools and fire stations that serve as emergency shelters.

“We’re interested in providing emergency shelter, not continuous sleeping space,” Morascini said.

“In a declared state of emergency things are very different for everyone,” Ellenburg told the group.

But code blue nights seldom come with a state of emergency declaration.

Advocates feared the city’s one option may not have enough room to house all those needing shelter on frigid nights, but changes to the city’s shelters may free up more room at Street Reach.

The Lifeline shelter – once reserved only for women of domestic violence – will be used to house all single homeless women; Street Reach will only be open to men come Dec. 15, Jenkins said.

Citizens Concerned for the Homeless of Myrtle Beach told the council that it wanted to be a part of the solution in ending homelessness. The council encouraged the group to work with New Directions.

Morascini said that the group received a letter from New Directions on Friday, which asked if its volunteers “could help man Street Reach on the code blue nights.”

“That threw us for a loop,” she said, adding that it’s one thing to ask volunteers to serve at a church they are familiar with, but another thing to ask untrained volunteers to serve at the shelter. “It’s a totally different environment,” she said. “We don’t want to lose volunteers by saying the only way we can do this (or help) is to go to the shelter.”

Weaver: 843-444-1722; @TSNEmily

This story was originally published November 23, 2015 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Homeless in Myrtle Beach area have one option on frigid nights: Street Reach."