When Gabriel Katzeek stayed at the city’s cold-weather emergency shelter in Thane during its first year the only time he was allowed outside was briefly to use the portable outhouses next to the entrance. On the opening night of the shelter’s second season Tuesday there were newly installed indoor flush toilets and he was allowed outside for a 15-minute smoke break about an hour after arriving.
“I didn’t know they were going to add that,” he said of the new bathroom while standing with a cigarette out in the chilly, but calm darkness. “It’s a lot better than coming out here.”
Gabriel Katzeek (right), among the people staying at the city’s cold-weather emergency shelter Tuesday night, inspects Halloween-themed earrings worn by Jennifer Skinner, deputy director at St. Vincent de Paul Juneau, during a smoking break. The nonprofit is operating the shelter under a contract with the city. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
The smoking breaks are among changes intended to make life smoother for the people staying and working at the shelter this season, and Jennifer Skinner, deputy director at St. Vincent de Paul Juneau, which is operating the facility in a city-owned warehouse in Thane about a mile south of the Goldbelt Tram. The shelter was also a source of tension for surrounding businesses who reported thefts, vandalism and other problems during the first season.
“We realize that sometimes people not having access to the nicotine that their body needs can be a detriment to their behavior,” Skinner said, standing outside with a couple of people taking advantage of the opportunity.
Other things in the shelter — the 40 cots lined in rows, one table when guests signed in for the night, another table where convenience food like pre-made sandwiches and ramen noodles were passed out — were much the same for Katzeek as a year ago. However, the shelter’s first season ended in mid-April and he’s spent the past six months mostly living on the streets downtown.
The shelter at 1325 Eastaugh Way is scheduled to be open from 9 p.m. to 6:45 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 9 p.m. to 7:45 a.m. on Sundays. An evening shuttle will transport people from the Glory Hall and locations in downtown Juneau to the shelter, with a bus taking back to town and the Glory Hall after the shelter closes in the morning.
People are dropped off by a shuttle van at the city’s cold-weather emergency shelter in Thane on Tuesday night. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Greeting Katzeek when he entered the shelter shortly after it opened Tuesday night and helping him sign in was Juvencio Garcia, who stayed at the shelter twice last year while dealing with his own job and housing challenges. Garcia, who recently celebrated his 40th birthday, said he was working as a farm laborer in California before hearing about a seafood processing job in Sitka three years ago, and a brush with the law ultimately led to his arrival in Juneau.
Garcia said he’s been doing maintenance and construction work in recent months, but when he heard the warming shelter was looking for employees felt it was a chance to take another step forward on a journey that began with his departure from the fields of California.
“This job is about communication with people and you have to be a special person to do that, I think,” he said. For many who at the shelter “all you need is a pat in the back sometimes, or somebody to talk to, or just have the right information.”
Roughly a dozen people arriving at the shelter during the first hour it was open were unfamiliar, but “I’m going to get to know them,” Garcia said. He said similar help from the shelter’s director last year is part of what motivated him to apply for a job this year.
“I have a goal of trying to find resources for five people,” he said. “When I got here, those two days, there was a lady helping me, showing me resources and helping me with applications, and telling me where to go and stuff, and I did what she told me and I grew.”
Three bathrooms with flush toilets and sinks are new additions to the city’s cold-weather emergency shelter in Thane. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Problems and requests at the shelter as people were settling in for the first night were generally minor: ice or a cold compress for someone who’d recently had medical treatment, an extra blanket, making it clear who’s allowed to use which of the bathrooms (one is for guests, one for staff and one for people with disabilities). Among Garcia’s first-night suggestions to other staff was obtaining a collection of books for people to read since the shelter currently has little in the way of diversions.
Supervising the shelter this year is Greg Martini, a staff member at the facility last year, who said choosing a staff in some cases — including Garcia’s — was about how well they could provide peer support and related to the struggles of people with no other place to stay.
“I can see where they can identify with a person who’s saying here,” he said. “So talking to them, and talking to them about homelessness, and people are homeless how do you interact and get along?”
Some problems at the shelter involving disruptive behavior by people staying there were reported by officials during its first season of operation. Martini said one of the adjustments this year is staff will be more tolerant of certain behaviors, such as a person under the influence of drugs, if it’s not disruptive.
However, he warned, there also will be consequences if people staying at the shelter do engage in destructive actions involving, for instance, the new indoor bathrooms.
“If they screw those up we’ll put the other ones back outside,” Martini said.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
