Story and photos by William Smith
All they need is $15,000.
With that, the Transitions DMC homeless shelter can finally open to everyone who needs a place to stay.
“People ask what we need, and what we need is cash,” said Transitions DMC founder Craig Fenton.
For the past six years, Transitions DMC has helped the homeless and poor people of the area with various services, while turning the former pawn shop on 515 Main St. into a state of the art homeless shelter.
Since then, Fenton has hired Sara Dittner as the chief operating officer, and the building is in use for those who need to grab a cold meal or do their laundry. When the shelter does open, 13 rooms will be available for those who need a place to stay. The interior of the building is finished, except for some tweaks to the kitchen.
“This is is a low barrier shelter. You don’t need an ID,” Fenton said. “If you walk in the door and don’t have a place to stay, and we don’t think you will be a danger to our staff, then you stay.”
It’s been a monumental operation with multiple moving parts. Transitions DMC was able to utilize federal HUD grants to find hotel rooms for the homeless during the pandemic. Donated money comes from a variety of sources, as well as Fenton’s pocket.
“From January 1, 2020, through November 1, 2021, Transitions DMC has served an average of nine households per day with apartment stays. That translates to 6,089 nights of housing for 686 days,” Dittner said.
As a low barrier homeless shelter, Transitions DMC has a close relationship with local police. Officers regularly drop off people who might otherwise go to jail. They’re usually just homeless, or suffering from mental health issues.
“The hardest part for people is having an address they can have mail sent to,” Dittner said.
Fenton said the police drop off as many as five or six people a week at the shelter, which has an immediate effect for law enforcement. Des Moines County Sheriff Kevin Glendening reported several weeks ago that the Des Moines County Jail population was below the max count for the first time in a while. When the jail is overcrowded, prisoners often have to be transported to other jails across the state at great expense. Housing inmates costs taxpayer money as well, even without the transportation.
“We think we have a proven track record of making policing a little easier,” Dittner said. “We get business owners calling us first thing in the morning saying, ‘There is someone sleeping in my doorway. Can you help?’ Usually, the answer is 'yes.'”
Fenton said some homeless folks aren’t looking for much help, and that’s fine too. He and the rest of the staff at Transitions DMC have identified at least six homeless camps in the Burlington area; they plan on visiting those camps to notify people of their services – no strings attached.
“Some people just want a place to take a shower and wash their clothes, and then they want to move on,” Fenton said.
That’s all available at the shelter. There’s a kitchen that needs only a new stove to be fully operational (part of the fundraising effort), and a complete laundry room that is already in use. There’s even a recreational room and a meeting room, complete with a pulpit, that can be used for religious purposes.
Despite being a low barrier, emergency shelter, the staff at Transitions DMC includes case workers who want to help residents build a new life for themselves. Having a stable mailing address at the shelter is a good start.
“You can’t get a lot of services without a mailing address. It’s hard to get food stamps without a mailing address,” Dittner said.
It’s a matter of creating a stable foundation, which often consists of acquiring an ID or a Social Security card.
“With this shelter, we can provide short-term housing to give clients time to get through the immediate housing crisis,” Dittner said.
All that’s left is the final leg of the journey. As Fenton put it, the shelter is about 95 percent of way towards opening.
“Many of our area businesses, churches and individuals have provided significant donations to get our building built and ready to go,” Dittner said, noting that includes handicap accessible bathrooms. Some of the money will be coming from federal and state sources. While Fenton and his staff appreciate item donations such as food and clothing, which come in on a fairly regular basis, monetary donations can be used to buy many of those items wholesale.
“We are a couple of weeks away from hearing from the state of Iowa as to if we will be funded for the next couple of years,” Fenton said.
Whether or not that money comes through, the shelter will open, Fenton said. He’s been making Transitions DMC work for six years, and he’s not about to stop now.
“People who hesitate to help homeless people say they should get just get a job, and go to rehab. Yes, they should do all those things. I agree 100 percent,” Dittner said. “But people need time. We give people time to change their lives.”
To donate, contact Transitions DMC at 319-209-2217 or at https://www.transitionsdmc.org/.