As homelessness rises across the United States, shelters have been stretched thin by increasing need.
In Orlando, Florida, for example, officials estimate a shortage of about 1,000 shelter beds to provide safe places to sleep for unhoused folks who would otherwise be unsheltered outside.
With the region also implementing a law that can charge “transient” neighbors with camping violations, emergency shelter beds are needed more than ever to keep people safe and out of trouble.
So, local officials are considering a new option: The purchase of two former Greyhound buses dubbed “Dignity Buses.”
The buses, which would be retrofitted by a homeless nonprofit called The Source, replace seats with bunk beds for up to 20 people to sleep each night.
The Source operates three of its own dignity buses in Vero Beach and has also created similar models for cities in Rhode Island and Illinois.
Anthony Zorbaugh, the executive director of The Source, said the organization provides more than 13,000 nights of shelter annually on buses in Vero Beach.
“People who are on the street are exhausted,” Zorbaugh told the Orlando Sentinel. “By the time they get their bed, they want to sleep. If you had to provide 13,000 hotel rooms at $150 a night, the social return on this bus is astronomical.”
The buses themselves have a price tag of about $175,000 each, with operations expected to cost about $1 million every year. Under a program in Orlando, each night of shelter would cost about $78.60 per person.
It’s a cost most officials are willing to pay.
“The day these buses get here, we can potentially have 40 people who had been previously sleeping on the streets, the sidewalks … a safe place,” Samantha Levine, who oversees homelessness initiatives for the city, told the Sentinel.
“That not only has a positive impact on the community but also could be life-changing for those individuals.”
The buses would be parked each night at the Christian Service Center, a facility that currently provides food and services to homeless Floridians, but not shelter.
Case managers would select and vet 40 people per night to use the bunks. Each sleeping area also has a power outlet and light, and each bus includes one large restroom. One of Orlando’s buses would also have a wheelchair lift.
Like The Source’s other buses, bedding is washed each day, and the vehicle can be parked and powered by an electrical plug-in. Additionally, they would be staffed by a security attendant, who can also drive the buses in the event that they need to be moved.
“It’s brilliant in its simplicity,” Eric Gray, the CEO of the Christian Service Center, told the Sentinel.
The Source brought a dignity bus to Orlando earlier this month to give city officials, nonprofits, and community leaders a tour of the “shelter on wheels.”
“I think it actually exceeded my expectations,” Rev. Robert Spooney, a local pastor, said. “It’s a lot better than the sleeping cars in my era when we used to travel on trains.”
But the luxury of the bunks is not the top concern for area health and service providers. The main objective is simply to help people sleep.
“Many of them come in, particularly when it’s extremely cold, extremely hot. They’re not sleeping,” Dr. Pia Valvassori, who has provided healthcare to homeless people for more than 20 years, told Spectrum News.
“And that’s another trigger for disease, chronic disease … and mental illness.”
Zorbough — and the officials working with him — hope these buses can fill an urgent need.
“Our aim is to get people off the street and keep them safe and healthy until they can get back on their feet,” The Source’s website reads. “Our accommodation is not a long term solution, but what we do provide is a safe, temporary, and comfortable place to sleep for the night.”
The dignity bus proposal will soon be presented to local advisory boards, with the Orlando City Council later considering it this spring. If the plan is approved, the buses could be ready to roll by this summer.
“It’s been a long ride getting here,” Zorbaugh shared on The Source’s website, “but our hearts and hard work led us to this point, and now we are sharing this finished product with those that need it the most.”
Header image courtesy of The Source
