COVINGTON, Ky. — As temperatures drop across the commonwealth, members of the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky are working overtime to provide a safe and warm space for those in need, even operating beyond capacity to ensure no one is turned away. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky is welcoming an overflow of guests amid freezing temperatures

  • A national report shows 4,766 people experienced some form of homelessness in 2023 in Kentucky 

  • The shelter is accepting all forms of donations, including monetary gifts, coats, hats, scarfs and gloves

For 61-year-old James Helton, the shelter has been a safe haven.

“They've given me a bed to lie in," Helton said. "They've given me food to eat. They've given me coffee to drink." 

He’s one of dozens at the shelter, but like many, he never thought he’d find himself here.

“I've always worked; I've always paid my own way, did my own things," he said. "And suddenly, I find myself here at the shelter, depending on other people.”

The shelter has 68 beds to host those in need, but executive director Kim Webb said she and her staff have been allowing overflow guests to stay in areas outside of the normal sleeping quarters so they don’t have to turn anyone away.

“It is a tough thing to look at someone and say, 'We don't have another option for you; we don't have a bed for you,' versus now saying, 'Hey, come on into the navigation center' … where you can have coffee and those kinds of things,” Webb said.

The Navigation Center opened in 2022 and allows people to charge their phones, use computers and have a place to warm up. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Annual Homelessness Assessment Report shows in Kentucky, 4,766 people experienced some form of homelessness in 2023. Nearly 1,000 were managing chronic illnesses and 234 were unaccompanied minors. 

"Having the opportunity to talk to (Helton) really shows who's entering the system right now and how hard it is for someone in our community to live on $1,500 that have worked their entire life," Webb said. 

For Helton, the shelter isn’t just a place to escape the cold. It's a means in the fight for his survival. 

“It's very cold," he said. "I've seen two deaths already, just in that one year that I've been out here on the streets mentally. That puts me at a state of mind, that could be me." 

The shelter is accepting all forms of donations, including monetary gifts, coats, hats, scarfs and gloves.

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