On the coldest nights of the year, while many of us snuggle up in the comfort of our homes with a hot cocoa hoping to glance outside and see snowfall, some of our neighbors are searching desperately for ways to keep themselves and their loved ones warm as they brace for frigid temperatures.
This winter, Durham will nearly quadruple the number of beds available for people on “white flag” nights, which occur when temperatures are forecast to be at or below 32 degrees, or 35 degrees with rain or snow.
At the same time, local organizations are collaborating on a new initiative this winter called 100 Days of Warmth, a campaign to raise awareness about white flag shelters and raise funds to expand shelter capacity and other homelessness services further.
Ryan Smith, director of Community Safety with the City of Durham, says they hope to encourage other churches and advocacy groups, many of whom are members of the city’s Continuum of Care network, to join in the mission.
“I think a lot of people in Durham really care about this,” Smith says. “A lot of people want Durham to be a place where everyone has a safe, warm place to sleep on the coldest nights.”
According to Housing for New Hope, a nonprofit focused on outreach and re-housing, about 381 people are homeless in Durham, slightly down from 2024. But 51 percent of Durham’s homeless population is unsheltered, a 12 percent uptick from the previous year, heightening the demand for temporary and long-term housing options.
Starting this week, over 70 new beds will become available for folks in need, a bulk of which will be at the school building owned by Union Baptist Church. Previously, Urban Ministries and Families Moving Forward have been able to offer only a handful of beds. Durham Rescue Mission also has limited availability, but those numbers are harder to track because Durham Rescue Mission is not part of the city’s Continuum of Care, a network of nonprofits and local organizations that collaborate with the city and county on homelessness services.
Ketty Thelemaque, lead organizer at Durham Congregations, Associations, and Neighborhoods (Durham CAN), connected Smith with Reverend Prince Rivers, pastor at Union Baptist Church, after a conversation between Thelemaque and Rivers about how to support Durham’s unhoused population. Rivers mentioned the school building, so Thelemaque connected the dots, knowing that the city was in desperate need for more shelter space.
“I was just really excited about the opportunity, because we do have this space, and I know that both my time here in Durham and my time pastoring in other cities, this is always an issue,” Rivers says. “What do you do for temporary housing in the winter for unhoused people? Often faith communities have space that isn’t used 24 hours a day, and so the opportunity to be a part of that seemed like a great initiative.”
Union Baptist Church will be able to provide 52 beds at their school building at 311 Dowd Street. The city is contracting with Families Moving Forward, a local charity, to staff the shelter.
The congregation at Union Baptist Church is roughly 4,000 strong, Rivers says, and they are fervent about doing their part to support neighbors in need.
“When I announced that we were doing this on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, there was roaring applause from the congregation,” Rivers says. “They know there’s a need, and even though the hands-on volunteer opportunities may be limited, we continue to get calls almost every other day from people who are trying to see if they can volunteer.”
Adding 50-plus beds in one location is a unique challenge and a win worth celebrating for Smith and his team. Many other churches that have answered the call to open temporary shelters don’t have working sprinkler systems, capping the number of people they can house at 20 due to fire code and building safety. Creating space for 54 beds through Union Baptist has “enabled us to do something we have not been able to do in years past,” Smith says. Bringing more folks under one roof is more efficient because it allows the same number of overnight staff to support a greater number of folks seeking shelter.
In addition to the 52 beds provided by Union Baptist, Asbury United Methodist Church is making 20 new beds available in partnership with Open Table Ministry, and Durham Crisis Response Center is adding three beds.
To get the word out about available beds on white flag nights, organizers disseminate information through places like churches and libraries that are already frequented by the homeless population. Folks in need of shelter can also call Entry Point Durham to locate a shelter with an open bed.
Still, Leah Gladlin, Durham community safety coordinator, says only about 70 percent of white flag beds get filled, despite the need. In response, the city launched a separate “triage” hotline first responders, hospital workers, and street outreach organizers can call to get real-time shelter availability for individuals they encounter. Before the hotline, if someone didn’t show up to take a bed they reserved, shelters and community outreach groups didn’t have a cohesive way to backfill the bed.
Smith notes that some unhoused folks do not want or do not feel safe in a congregate setting, which is what most shelters have to offer. In lieu of shelter, the city’s HEART team and other outreach groups pass out blankets and sleeping bags, jackets, and survival kits that Smith says are “designed to help keep people warm who may, either by choice or by absence of options, choose to sleep outdoors,” but these solutions are only a temporary fix.
The face of homelessness is as diverse a mosaic as the broader community; families with young children, the formerly incarcerated, the elderly, and people with pets. Many unhoused folks are working as they bounce from shelter to shelter, whether outdoors in a tent, in their car, or temporary housing. As the cost of living rises, folks are finding it harder to keep pace.
Thelemaque spent 16 years with Durham Public Schools (DPS) as a classroom teacher and learning coach. She stepped into the lead organizer role at CAN in 2022 after witnessing too many students dealing with housing instability.
“I was on the front line with students, and sometimes, when they come to the classroom, everything that they deal with outside they bring in, and it prevents them from being successful,” Thelemaque says. “Seeing students who are unsheltered or who are dealing with those types of dynamics, I was like, what systems can really help parents who are struggling?”
In the future, organizers and public officials hope to increase capacity by leveraging unused public land like former school buildings. Smith and Thelemaque say they’ve had conversations with DPS leadership about potential opportunities.
Another priority is building a day shelter in Durham, which Thelemaque says is “desperately needed.” Day shelters don’t just provide space for folks; they are a waystation for essential services. At Oak City Cares, folks can take a shower, do laundry, get health screenings, use a computer, and even grab a meal on the weekends. Those services are more disjointed in Durham, but an increase in available facilities, especially those that can house a higher volume of people, would allow the city’s resources to stretch even further.
“We looked over at Raleigh and Wake County, and they were spending about the same amount as we were, but they were getting like five times as many white flag beds out of it,” Smith says. “Part of that was they had a more robust partnership with their faith community, and they had been able to find buildings that allowed them to hold larger emergency shelters. So part of our strategy was, let’s start working locally. We’re not going to get everywhere we want to be this winter season, but let’s see if we can make real progress toward finding larger spaces in partnership with faith communities and other organizations.”
United Way of the Triangle has stepped in to manage the fundraising campaign as part of the 100 Days of Warmth. The extra funding would support warm meals and expanded capacity for white flag shelters, now and in the future.
“If we can show that we can generate meaningful private dollars, I think that we have greater capacity to further expand white flag shelters, either as we go this season or as we head into next year, because we’re generating this proof of concept,” Smith says.
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