Tent Communities - FAQs

One80 Place has received numerous questions following the news articles about area tent communities being disbanded on Monday and Tuesday, March 16 and 17, 2015. Below are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions.

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1. Who sent the notice to the people living in the tent community?
Two Charleston police officers delivered the notice on Friday night that the South Carolina Department of Transportation would be coming at 9 a.m. Monday (3/16/15) to clean the property. The DOT did arrive at 9 a.m. Monday to begin cleaning the property.

2. How did One80 Place know about the advisement?
One80 Place has close working relationships with area police departments and was notified this was occurring.

3. Was this an eviction notice?
No. An eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property. The people in the tent community were not renting this property.

4. Who owns the property where the tent city was located?
This particular tent community was located on land owned by the Department of Transportation. It is a narrow piece of property in the right-of-way for I-26. There is a fence that separates the DOT property from C Street, which touches One80 Place property.

5. Did One80 Place want the tent community cleared?
The mission of One80 Place is to end homelessness, and as an organization does not want anyone to have to be living in tents. The property has a lot of trash and One80 Place has been providing the tent community with trash bags and its dumpster to discard their waste. The amount of trash accumulating has occasionally been blocking C Street and access to parking in the back of the One80 Place Family Center. The fence separating the property from C Street and One80 Place had been torn down. The One80 Place Family Center is mere feet from this campsite, and without the fence, the organization has been concerned that children in the Family Center might run through to the interstate.

6. Who made the people living in the tent community come into the shelter?
For many months, One80 Place has been regularly talking with the people in area tent communities about coming inside the shelter for assistance. When the clean-up notification was shared with this particular tent community, many One80 Place case managers came in over the weekend to offer a place to the people living in the tents. Nine men, including two Veterans, chose to come inside for assistance. This was their choice; they were not forced to come to the shelter.

7. Does One80 Place make money for each person that stays in its shelters?
No. One80 Place is supported partially from government grants, and partially from donations from people in the community – local businesses and individuals. One80 Place does have beds designated for male and female Veterans and receives a per diem grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs for expenses. This is a part of a federal effort to end Veteran homelessness by the end of 2015. One80 Place is one of many VA partners working to end Veteran homelessness. Nationally, the percentage of homeless Vets has declined from 33% of the homeless population to 12%. The efforts are working.

One80 Place financial documents are available at www.one80place.org.

8. Are One80 Place shelters full?
There are currently beds open in the men’s shelter. The family centers in Charleston and Summerville are currently full.

9. Does One80 Place have a waiting list?
One80 Place currently has a waiting list for its family centers. When someone calls needing help and the shelter is full, One80 Place works closely with them to help identify temporary, alternative solutions until a bed opens up. There is usually turnaround within a few days.

10. Does One80 Place have overflow accommodations?
Yes. During extreme weather conditions One80 Place has temporary overflow accommodations. Regularly, the three One80 Place shelters have capacity for approximately 180 people nightly. A significant majority of the people at One80 Place are here for a period of weeks or months, working on a self-sufficiency plan to return to safe, stable housing. One80 Place offers programs to help people end their homelessness. It is much more than one night off the streets and one hot meal.

11. Where do people store their belongings at One80 Place?
Everyone has a locker for their personal belongings. Most of the time, this is enough storage. The people in the tent community behind our shelter told the organization they were interested in coming inside, but they had more things than would fit in a locker. One80 Place made arrangements for their belongings to be safely stored until they moved into permanent housing.

12. Does One80 Place make people leave during the day?
No. One80 Place has rooms that are open all day for guests to use.

13. Does One80 Place allow alcohol and drugs?
One80 Place does not permit drug and alcohol use on its campus. Alcoholics Anonymous meets regularly at One80 Place and many guests participate in this program. One80 Place also has substance abuse programs to help guests discontinue use of drugs. Alcohol and drug abuse is not an issue for everyone, but it is for some people.

14. Does One80 Place allow smoking?
No. In August 2014, the One80 Place campus became smoke-free. Members of the Guest Advisory Committee (shelter representatives elected by their peers) helped facilitate this process. The Homeless Health Clinic at One80 Place offers smoking cessation programs and medicines to help people stop smoking and stay healthy.

15. Are guests allowed to leave during the night?
Guests are at One80 Place by their own accord. No one forces them to be here. However, it is a community living environment and there are structures in place to maintain schedules. There is a check-in time in the evening. If you choose to leave the shelter in the middle of the night you are giving up your bed.

16. What happens if a guest doesn’t return one night?
If a guest does not return without explanation, then they are giving up their bed and someone else can come in. This is all explained during orientation to everyone living at One80 Place shelters.

17. Why wouldn’t someone want to come inside the shelter?
A person facing homelessness has many difficult decisions to make. Sometimes people are not ready to commit to the structure and living in a community environment. There may be other, personal reasons as well. It is hard for a person who has never been homeless to understand why someone facing homelessness would not choose to live in a shelter temporarily, but it does happen.

18. Who is responsible for ending homelessness in our community?
One80 Place is a non-profit organization whose mission is to end homelessness one person at a time. One80 Place depends on support from the community to achieve its mission. We believe that it takes the community coming together and working together in meaningful ways to end homelessness in our community. We do believe it can be accomplished.

19. Is One80 Place like a prison?
No. People who come to One80 Place for help choose to come here. No one mandates that a person facing homelessness come to One80 Place, although the organization offers access to counseling and other supportive programs to help them return to permanent housing.

20. How long do people live in the shelter?
People can stay as long as they need to, as long as they are working on their personal plan to return to permanent housing. Our average length of stay is about 90 days.

Learn more about One80 Place supportive services at www.one80place.org.