Hotels for Homeless (H4H), a low barrier shelter for the Bloomington homeless population, is struggling to meet increasing demands for resources due to cold weather and domestic violence.
“As of this morning, we have 12 people in rooms… six of those are children,” said executive director Katie Norris. “I’m turning down multiple people a day, it’s incredibly heartbreaking, but when we’re low on funds like this we have to focus only on children.”
Ten of the 12 people are seeking shelter from domestic violence.
Read more: Report: Indiana domestic violence increasing
Norris said since the weather has gotten colder, domestic violence cases have skyrocketed.
H4H started in March 2020 as a response to COVID-19. Norris, the only employee, was a volunteer at the time.
“When everybody is stuck inside together, you don’t have those outlets and everybody seems to be a little bit angry and anxious,” she said. “That month we had 52 people.”
The program operates out of Best Value Inn, offering residents two types of rooms depending on their situations.
Transitional rooms are for people who need help shifting from homelessness to housing. H4H takes them into the hotel and transitions them to an apartment.
Read more: Advocates say more housing resources are available, but community has long way to go
Emergency shelter rooms are for people with an urgent need for a place to stay but without steady funding.
“When it’s deadly outside, we don’t turn anybody away,” she said. “So if you would otherwise die because you’re sleeping outside and you don’t qualify for other resources in town, we don’t turn you away. We just figure it out.”
Norris has tried to offer homeless people first access to social services in addition to hotel room stays. She works with about 10 volunteers and a few interns from IU, but she said the demand usually outweighs the supply.
“We are relying completely on the community which is really hard,” she said. “Luckily our community somehow magically continues to come through.”
Visit Hotels for Homeless’ Facebook page for more information.
