GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — The Interactive Resource Center has announced they’re scaling back operations and will no longer operate overnight.
The sudden announcement says the IRC will operate only as a day center starting Nov. 1.
Executive Director Kristina Singleton said this means the IRC will not even operate as a cold weather shelter overnight anymore as a white flag center.
The IRC served 771 people last month compared to 584 the year before and just 219 in Sept. 2022. It’s a 350 percent increase in demand for services at the nonprofit.
“They are openly neglecting the contract they have with the city,” Greensboro City Councilman Zack Matheny said.
Matheny says he was disappointed to see a press release from the IRC announcing a reduction in services. The city provides the bulk of financial backing to the nonprofit, and he says the city had no warning.
“Before putting out a press release … I would have discussed my plans with the city and asked what an adjustment looks like and what it would be,” Matheny said.
He’s referencing an adjustment. In August, Greensboro’s city council approved more than $400,000 for the IRC, which was to support 24/7 operations and enhanced security.
In their announcement, the IRC says they’ll only be open 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
They want to install a fence around the perimeter and say the Doorway Project can help house 83 more people for cold weather shelter
They also want meetings about 911 calls to the center. There have been more than 700 911 calls to the center this year.
“That is going to put a lot of people on the street … IRC helps a lot of people in a lot of ways as much as they can, and it keeps a lot of people off the street,” said Robert Lynch, a formerly unhoused man.
Lynch now helps cut hair for free and was just one of the handful of people in Center City Park who said that in three weeks, the homeless population will have nowhere to go.
Center City Park is a hub for the unhoused even with anti-homeless infrastructure like bars on benches.
“That is going to put 100 more people … on the street where they don’t belong,” Lynch said.
On Monday afternoon, an IRC employee told our crew the dozens of people waiting outside of the IRC had not yet been told about the upcoming changes.
“They have not told their clients, but they have issued a press release,” Matheny said.
He says with the growing need, it’s time to quickly look at options.
“What would a tent city look like? Could we do something else in relation to the pallet home project?” Matheny said.
He did not mean a tent city like a homeless encampment but a structured sheltered environment with social services available, running water and other amenities in addition to the pallet homes typically erected during the winter months.
The executive director said they would speak to the media on Tuesday. Matheny says Monday’s announcement also created a lot of questions from the city about the future of the nonprofit as well.
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