NASHUA, NH – The warming station at the Unitarian Universalist Church is at the end of its three month run, with the last night of operation being April 30.
When it first opened on February 9, it was expected that 10 to 12 people on average would be there a night. Instead, it saw upwards of around 37 people.
“[It] was probably double of what we originally anticipated,” said Jake King, co-owner along with Melanie Haney of East Coast Evolution Leadership – the company hired to run the warming station. “There was not a single night [where] we didn’t have anybody.”
The low-barrier warming station has been serving unhoused adults in Nashua every night from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Upon entering, people go through an intake process before heading to a cafeteria-style room where they can have coffee and snacks.
The intake process is done when somebody comes to the warming station for the first time, or if they are returning after a month or longer of not using the station. Otherwise, they just give their name and basic information.
“The staff are there to provide oversight to keep everybody safe and then they have to do some minor data entry where they’re logging people in as they enter,” King said. “The staff’s key role is to make sure that everybody is acting in a safe and productive manner, and that everybody is offered the same opportunity to find dignity and peace and services that might help them.”
Staff learns how they can better help the unhoused population through the intake process, by asking questions like where they spent the last few nights, when the last time they were employed was, where their last home was, if they have substance use disorder, veteran status, and what kind of support they need.
While much feedback included the need for more services, shelter, food and easier intake processes for sober living homes or detox programs, King said it primarily included prevention measures such as cheaper rent, more jobs, and higher minimum wage.
“They’re looking for things that are really kind of a more larger picture, systemic issues that would be solved by more hands than we can provide in a warming station,” he said.
King says that the church has been phenomenal and very gracious with their space, and that things went well, overall.
“I’ve never worked with humans in any capacity where you didn’t have some issues or some problems,” King said. “It never runs 100 percent smoothly. All that said, we had to kick only a very few people out. For that particular site, it ran really smoothly.”
While a decision has not yet been made as to whether the warming station will operate again next season during the winter months, King said he’s sure East Coast Evolution Leadership would be happy to again offer their services.
“I assume that they are going to do this again next year because the people involved in the city of Nashua are very passionate about making sure people are safe,” he said. “[It] was really nice to be able to see how passionate they were about wanting to shelter and keep their most vulnerable population safe.”
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