Emergency shelter
Our seventh winter as Moments of Hope Outreach is upon us, as is our sixth year operating an Emergency Shelter program utilizing area motels. We serve as an unofficial safety net to Richmond's shelter system and those homeless neighbors who are unable to access traditional shelter after hours or when it is often full. We provide Emergency Motel Stays and Dignity Motel Stays. In 2021, we provided emergency shelter for 196 individuals for a total of 1,364 nights.
- Emergency Motel Stays are a way to protect our unsheltered neighbors during dangerous weather events, such as severe storms, temperatures below 40°, or temperatures above 95°. It also acts as a vital safety net for the recently homeless neighbors who are struggling during their first few nights without safe shelter, as well as a growing number of formerly homeless neighbors who live in motels and frequently face evictions due to their inabilities to cover the nightly or weekly rents. Most of them are disabled and live on less than $800 per month, or are the working poor and under-employed.
- Dignity Stays provides up to two nights at a motel for our chronically homeless neighbors who may have gone several weeks without a shower or bed. It gives them a brief respite from the outdoors and a safe night or two under a roof.
We have established relationships with eleven motels spanning our service area that provide discounted nightly room rates and weekly rates. Eight of these motels accept our reservations and payments online and check our friends into their rooms without our signature. This allows us to respond quickly to sudden weather events requiring Emergency Motel Stays for dozens of people at a time, without having to visit every motel during a storm. This has been extremely helpful in these times of social distancing.
