Remember
Iowa City's new temporary homeless shelter? It was designed to serve as a temporary shelter during Iowa City's coldest months.
Turns out that things are going well. And it seems that earlier concerns of increased crime in that area haven't really played out:
Officials say reports of vagrancy have decreased 95 percent since a temporary winter homeless shelter opened on Gilbert Street earlier this month, and the shelter has been regularly running at or above capacity.
During an informal meeting Thursday of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, Phoebe Trepp, program development director for Shelter House, and Iowa City Police Officer David Schwindt updated the board about the temporary shelter, which opened Jan. 5.
The winter shelter, inside the former Aldi grocery store building at 1534 S. Gilbert St., is housing people who might not otherwise be able to stay at Shelter House, either because they're intoxicated, refuse to follow the program rules or have been evicted in the past from the main facility. The temporary shelter is open from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m.
It seems that homeless people aren't seeking protection in the hallways of apartment buildings these days, which is positive.
