Wilmington eyes first no-barrier, city-operated homeless shelter
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY-TV) — A priority for the Wilmington city council in 2026 is to establish a city-operated homeless shelter. The proposal would establish the first shelter with a “no to low barrier of entry.”
“So this would be the first of kind in the city?” said Mayor Bill Saffo at a city council meeting on Tuesday.
The council heard an update on a project that has been in talks since 2024.
“Yes,” said Rachel Schuler, the city’s director of housing and neighborhood services.
Schuler presented details of what could become the first “no to extremely low” barrier shelter for the unhoused.
Meaning, it would be open to those with criminal backgrounds or active addictions.
The city is still working out its plans for a city-owned site. Schuler shared her vision for a 24-hour, 30 to 40 bed facility for unhoused men.
“Swelling up to 50 under extreme circumstances but that seems as were looking at sizes that seems to be the correct scale for some of these smaller sites before they get unmanageable,” Schuler said.
Before the city can move forward with the site, it wants to partner whether local or out of town.
“That’s really where coming in with a lead partner is going to come into play because they are going to be able to give us some of the best practices that they’ve found in other communities,” Schuler said.
Katrine Knight is the executive director at the Good Shepherd Center which is a low barrier transitional facility.
Knight said this proposal would fill a gap in the shelter services provided across the city.
“We, as a community might have a better shot at engaging some of those hardest to serve people if we had someone that had even fewer restrictions,” Knight said.
Knight is referring to those who are usually men with mental health issues, who avoid shelters and are predominantly seen in the public eye. The city plans to work with the Cape Fear Continuum of Care, the leading homelessness agency with gathering data and will help make crucial decisions on the facility.
The agency found a rise in unhoused individuals from 322 to 500 last year. The proposal discussion comes after a no-camping ordinance that was enacted last year, banning people from sleeping their cars in the city parking decks.
Ryan Zuidema, Wilmington Police Chief was asked whether their response to parking deck camping had changed.
“I wouldn’t say that there’s been an influx in enforcement of that or anything different than what we traditionally seen,” Zuidema said.
WPD announced last year it would also be embedding four new social workers into their work when addressing homelessness.
“We are in the process of still conducting interviews I know several of those have been done however we have not yet hired any of them,” Zuidema said.
While many details still remain up in the air for the new city-owned shelter, Knight hopes this proposal comes to fruition for sake of those without a place of refuge.
