What options exist for the vulnerable homeless community during natural disasters?

The homeless population is the most vulnerable group within a community when a disaster occurs.

Mostly exposed and unsheltered with nowhere to go and no means of preparation, their options are far more limited when seeking a safe place to hunker down during a major storm, flood event or other natural catastrophe.

Fortunately, some local organizations are available to assist the homeless at a time of heightened vulnerability.

“We use all of our first responders, street outreach personnel and anyone who can safely get information to people who are sleeping unsheltered to let them know what’s available, because that’s the first line of defense,” said Eva Thibaudeau, director of programs at the Houston Coalition for the Homeless.

The organization helped shelter a number of homeless citizens in the Houston area as Hurricane Harvey pounded Harris County, Texas, with catastrophic flooding in 2017.

In the event of an impending disaster such as a hurricane, Houston-area emergency shelters switch to overflow mode and relax their customary rules, including typical check-in procedures, said Thibaudeau. Shelters won’t turn anyone away and will remain open for extended hours.

Texas-based partners with The Way Home, a collaborative effort to prevent and end homelessness, played a critical role in keeping Houston’s homeless population safe, utilizing street outreach teams to encourage homeless people to seek shelter.

Many Houston-area emergency shelters operated at upwards of 150-percent capacity for months following Harvey.

“That’s the word that we’re trying to get out to people before a flood or a storm event,” Thibaudeau said, “You know, ‘Please, for your safety, this is serious. Any reservations you typically have about accessing shelter services are suspended. Your safety is the number-one concern.’”

As Florida braced for the threat of Hurricane Irma in 2017, some homeless people were even held against their will in an effort to save their lives.

For those that were unwilling to seek shelter, Miami officials invoked the Baker Act, a law that allows authorities to institutionalize people who present a danger to themselves and others. Individuals could be held for up to 72 hours and also receive a mental health evaluation.

“[The Baker Act is] there to protect those who can't otherwise protect themselves,” Ron Book, chairman of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, told the Associated Press in 2017.

When Boulder, Colorado, experienced unprecedented rainfall and significant flooding in September 2013, the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless opened up to full capacity to anyone who needed a dry place to stay.

“[It was] mostly homeless people who were displaced,” said Greg Harms, executive director of the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless. “If their campsites and where they were hanging out were flooded, they had no place to be.”

The shelter also worked closely with the Red Cross, who had quickly set up temporary shelters in various locations, but didn’t have a lot of experience helping out the homeless population, according to Harms.

“That became a challenge for them, so we sent some of our shelter staff to the Red Cross shelters to assist in dealing with the unique needs that the homeless population brought to those shelters,” Harms said.

Also available to assist the homeless population during disasters is the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program, which is designed to promote community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness.

“The Continuums of Care tend to be the initial point of contact for families and households that have housing instability, are facing homelessness or are homeless,” said Robert Pulster, regional coordinator for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. “We work with them as the primary service providers.”

“For people that are living unsheltered, when we see these kinds of natural disasters, we want to make sure they come inside where it is safe,” Pulster said. “The Continuum of Care and their partner agencies will work very hard to bring everyone inside so they’re not exposed.”

Many people might find themselves homeless as a result of a natural disaster. Harvey led to the Houston area's first rise in the number of individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness since 2011, according to the Coalition for the Homeless.

“Use the Red Cross resources, sign up for FEMA and register for disaster case management,” advised Thibaudeau. “That’s where you’re going to get your quickest and largest amount of resources in a disaster response.”

Report a Typo