Jackson’s homeless shelters opened additional beds ahead of a potentially devastating ice storm to protect vulnerable residents from the freeze.

But advocates say it would not be enough to serve the city’s entire unhoused population – some of whom will weather the storm outside in tents, tarps and sleeping bags. 

It’s not just homeless people in open-air encampments who will be left in the cold: Jacksonians with poorly insulated homes — as is common across the Southeast — may also need to seek refuge, further straining shelter capacity across the city. In other parts of Mississippi, churches and social services groups started opening shelters Friday as a winter storm with snow, freezing rain and sleet started moving across parts of the state Saturday.

Jackson’s roughly 250 shelter beds, operated by Stewpot Community Services, Shower Power, Gateway Rescue Mission and the Salvation Army, will accommodate the homeless or unstably housed during the coming week’s freezing temperatures, according to Melvin Stamps, the planning director for the Central Mississippi Continuum of Care. 

But the number of available beds is in flux, with advocates reporting that two of the year-round centers, the men’s shelter at Gateway Rescue Mission and the adult shelter at Salvation Army, are full or near capacity. The Salvation Army typically charges a boarding fee, but it waives that cost during inclement weather.

During past weather events, the city of Jackson has opened a temporary shelter at the Johnnie Champion Community Center, often called Champion’s Gym, near Jackson State University. With more than 100 beds, the building offers the largest capacity of any shelter in the city.

It will not be open during this storm because the heaters need to be replaced, according to city officials. An additional city facility that has been used as a temporary shelter, the Jackson Police Training Academy on Charles Street, is also not in sufficient condition to open. 

Nic Lott, the city’s spokesperson, said the building and maintenance department is working to secure new heaters. “We would love to use the facility, but the heaters need to be replaced and there’s a process we’re going through to get that done,” he said. 

Shower Power, which has operated at Champion’s in the past, opened 75 beds on Saturday at its building on South Commerce Street. 

Stewpot offers beds at two shelters, a men’s facility and a facility for women and children, all year round. On Friday, it opened an additional 30 beds at its downtown Opportunity Center – usually a day center – in anticipation of the falling temperatures. 

The city announced in a press release that the American Red Cross would be offering shelter, but as of noon on Saturday, the nonprofit was not affiliated with any shelters in Jackson or in the state of Mississippi, according to its online map.

“We probably won’t have enough inventory to be able to support the number of beds that may need that warming space,” said Stamps from Continuum of Care, which is composed of several organizations working to reduce homelessness. “Now, I think it would have been OK if Champion’s Gym was open.” 

While some homeless people in the Jackson area will attempt to weather the ice storm, Stamps said he anticipates the vast majority will attempt to seek shelter. Earlier this week, his organization conducted a survey of the number of homeless people in Jackson and found 123 people living at roughly 50 encampments throughout the city. 

“It’s all about establishing a positive rapport with them so that when a situation like this occurs, it’s not like we’re trying to poke and prod,” Stamps said. “We already have relationships.” 

Even so, the number of people outside who will attempt to seek shelter is likely higher, as point-in-time counts often fail to accurately capture how many homeless people live in a community. 

For the people who don’t seek shelter, advocates and outreach coordinators like Dee Dee Barlow Moore say the coming days will be life-threatening. Last month, a homeless man died of hypothermia after opting to sleep outside a building in downtown Jackson — mere blocks away from a shelter. 

“So many of them, in their minds, equate shelter to confinement and to so many horrible, traumatic things in their past,” she said. 

Another reason people avoid the shelter: Their dogs can’t come with them. 

Teresa Renkenberger, the founder of Shower Power, said she wishes it were possible to accommodate pets, but it is too disruptive.

“They would fight and bark, and trust me, I want to take them,” she said. 

To help the folks outside, she said they will be making repeated visits with sleeping bags and even pet food. And if people do choose to go to Shower Power, Renkenberger promises warmth: She said they recently finished installing blown-in insulation to complement two 5-ton heaters inside the large sleeping area.

Moore has also been visiting encampments throughout the city – collections of tents on streets in a mostly deserted industrial area close to downtown Jackson or groups who congregate behind chain retailers in the city’s northern limits – to pass out camping gear and other supplies. 

“But the ones that are the diehards, that truly believe that they can make it through anything, I ordered some of these camping mats that are insulated,” she said. 

That’s in addition to doling out what Moore estimates is three cars-worth of thermal blankets, tarps, hats and gloves, and sleeping bags. She is also planning to pass out propane camping heaters. 

Chemical hand warmers in particular can save lives, she said. 

“I’ve had one guy that literally didn’t die from hypothermia because his entire encampment pooled all of those together,” she said. “He had fallen in the mud and all they saw was his shoes sticking up. They got 20 to 30 HotHands and covered him in it until AMR got there.” 

Belonging to a group can help in other ways, too, Moore said. Some people who don’t want to go to shelters will pool funds they have made from panhandling to buy motel rooms. But for that to work, at least one person in the group must have identification — leading to the sometimes fatal resort of staying outside. 

“The wet and the cold is what will kill them,” she said. 

It’s not just the ice that can lead to death. The winter months in Jackson are known as “fire season,” due to the number of homes — abandoned or otherwise – that ignite, said Jeremiah Howard, the Hinds County coroner who also works as a volunteer firefighter in the tiny town of Pocahontas. 

The city of Jackson will sometimes see multiple fires in one night, Howard said. One cause of the repeated blazes: Homeless people seeking shelter inside abandoned houses and lighting fires to stay warm. 

Moore said she’s recently started passing out hand sanitizer to people living in encampments so they can safely start fires, as she’s seen too many people try to light tires to stay warm, then breathe in toxic smoke. 

“They come out looking like they’ve been rolling in soot,” she said. “But they’re trying to survive.” 

Another reason for the fire season: Drafty windows and poor insulation that force residents to heat their homes through unsafe methods, such as multiple space heaters or the oven. 

Jill Buckley, Stewpot’s executive director, said the extended freezing temperatures mean a higher likelihood that people will face financial hardship from trying to stay warm.  

“It’s a cascade of events that starts here and now and will take months to recover from,” she said. 

In one scenario, Buckley described a resident’s gas usage going up because they’re relying on the oven to stay warm, leading to a higher bill the next month. 

“Then you have to figure out how to pay your regular bills,” she said. “Or something happens with your plumbing, you can’t afford to get the plumber out, and JXN Water charges you thousands of dollars.” 

Buckley said her coordinators will keep going out to make sure people know they have a place to get warm. 

“They’re making that decision when it’s 54 degrees outside,” she said. “It might be a different decision when it’s 32 degrees outside.” 

Warming shelters in Jackson 

Stewpot Community Services, 601-353-2759

• Opportunity Center, 845 West Amite St.
• Matt House Shelter for Women and Children, 355 Livingston St. 
• Billy Brumfield Men’s Shelter, 1244 South Gallatin St.

The Salvation Army, 601-982-4881

110 Presto Lane

Shower Power, 769-610-6296

836 South Commerce St. 

Gateway Rescue Mission, 601-353-5864

410 South Gallatin St.