Caelan Bailey Published

Charleston’s West Side SHOP Building Trust With Homeless Community

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Bream Presbyterian Church
Caelan Bailey/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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Updated on Monday, Jan. 23, 2025 at 1 p.m.

Michael Perry has lived in Charleston’s West Side his entire life and has been homeless for the last few years. He first visited the Showers Healthcare Outreach Program (SHOP), located in Bream Presbyterian Church’s annex, to take a shower and wash clothes.

I could wash more clothes than I have in a week,” Perry said. “I could do it every day. It was something that is desperately needed.”

For many in Charleston’s homeless community, the SHOP is a rare source of dependability and trust while living on the streets — many who visit refer to it as a “family house.” While the SHOP started as a place anyone could drop in to take a warm, private shower, it is now a service hub where clients can access mental health resources or get connected to housing programs.

“We literally do everything you can imagine under one roof,” SHOP Director Derek Hudson said.                       

Across the country, homelessness rose 18% last year, but in West Virginia, it’s even higher — increasing by 25% to nearly 1,800 people total. In 2024, the SHOP logged 10,175 client check-ins from over 3,500 unique visitors.         

The SHOP is also the city’s only overnight warming center, opening on a temporary basis when temperatures drop to 20 degrees or below. And with the winter storms and cold advisories in the past few weeks, the SHOP has hosted an average of over a hundred people a night this month.

We do it because there’s a need in this community, and the need is very strong,” Hudson said.

Charleston is the state’s capital and most populous city and hosts many resources harder to find in more rural parts of the state. But even walking across town can be a time-consuming – and exhausting – barrier to access.

I pushed around a shopping cart so big, three, 400 pounds,” Perry said. “I pushed around all day with me so no one would steal my stuff.

Those belongings often include items important to accessing services, like documents and IDs.

Following a national ruling to allow camping bans, cities across West Virginia have begun passing camping and panhandling bans. When homeless encampments are swept, people often lose such documentation.

Charleston has drafted a panhandling ban, but city council members have paused as a similar ban in Monongalia County goes to court.

The SHOP focuses on making their doors as open as possible, an approach to offering resources often referred to as “low barrier.” For example, they welcome pets, with a local chapter of the Street Dog Coalition providing veterinary supplies and services on-site.

There’s especially very limited shelter capacity for people who have pets,” Iris Sidikman, who runs a harm reduction program at the nearby Women’s Health Center and connects with clients at the SHOP, said. “That’s a big concern of a lot of people.”

Sidikiman counsels people who use drugs, those with substance use disorders often related to the trauma of people living on the streets.

“It’s very physically difficult, living rough, living outside, and opioids and other medications are things that can take away pain and that can allow you to continue to function and continue to move in that way,” Sidikman said.

Local housing programs follow a housing-first model, meaning they prioritize giving people living on the streets the security of housing before requiring them to meet metrics like sobriety. But even accessing those programs, or counseling while still living on the streets, often takes trust-building.

Hudson says the SHOP does that by being a consistent presence without any expectations for clients.

“You have to keep showing your face, let people know you’re here because they want the help,” Hudson said. “It’s just a matter of who they trust to allow that help to happen.”

This week, Charleston’s city council allotted additional warming center funds to the SHOP. Perry says he wants to see more services that follow a similar relationship-focused and low barrier approach. 

They don’t press anything about helping or trying to change you, or have you come to church or try to make you change your beliefs,” Perry said. “Or if you don’t even have beliefs, they don’t put none of that on you. You come here. If you need something, if they have it, they give it to you.”

While the city has some permanent shelters, overnight warming centers like the SHOP are only open when the temperatures drop below freezing. That means most nights, Perry still doesn’t have somewhere indoors to sleep. 

If they had a bed for me every night and they had a secure lock, a secure place for my things, then I could devote major, more amount of time to fixing the problem, the actual problem,” Perry said.

**Editor’s Note: This story was updated to specify the SHOP is an independent nonprofit.