Several newly homeless Wilmingtonians went to the Day Center Wednesday, seeking some reprieve from the oppressive heat. Theresa Shively, who had been housed up until a few months ago, lost housing alongside her sister and two nephews and is back to camping out in the woods.
She said the heat has impacted her especially badly when she lost access to her seizure medications. “My purse was stolen. My ID is gone, my everything, my phone chargers all in my purse, gone.” She's had two seizures during the heat wave, she said.
The Day Center closes at 1 p.m. and is only open Monday through Wednesday, meaning many unhoused people are out in the streets during the hottest part of the day.
The center’s director, Tony Perez, said there’s just not enough resources available for those who need them. He took a call from one man earlier in the morning who was asking for help finding housing — and Perez didn't have a lot of options for him.
“It always breaks my heart. The conversation is there's one, maybe two options, and I know they're full, and I know there's a waiting list. And then he tells me, I've got medical conditions, and the doctor is warning me, if I'm outside in this heat, I won't live and so what do I say to that? It's heartbreaking. I get that phone call several times a day," he said.
The center hosted more than 100 people on one day last week, shattering previous records. Perez isn’t sure why it’s happened, but he’s worried those numbers will just continue to grow as the county cuts resources for housing.
J.J., a veteran, said he just lost his housing because he was sick of fighting his boarding house landlord over poor living conditions. He'd been fighting bedbugs, but now he's coping with heat.
"I had to walk all the way over to 16th and Greenfield Street for my dentist appointment, and but time I got back over here, I was completely soaked," he said. "I'd take my shirt off, you can wring it out, and all you see was a puddle of sweat."
It stays hot at night too, he said.
"You're waking up in a pool of sweat, and it's like you want to peel your clothes off, and you can't do that because you're sleeping on the streets, and you'll get basically indecent exposure charges on you," he said.
He said it's not his first time being homeless, and it's the cost of living that's really put him in this bind. He only gets $900 from Supplemental Security Income, and that doesn't go far in 2025. But he's looking for a new place to stay, even if it'll take up more than half of his income.
He's just one of an estimated 461 homeless individuals in the tri-county area, all of them scrapping to find low-income housing in a time of strictly limited supply.
