‘It beats being out there’: Homeless Utahns find warmth, help and hope as SLC’s first legal camp opens

After 22 years on the streets, Jonni Vierra finally has a roof over her head, a lock on her door and a warm bed in which to sleep.

It’s temporary, sure, but it’s better than living along the Jordan River, where she had set up camp before this.

“It’s very nice,” Vierra said outside her new 75-square-foot home. “It beats being out there. Because out there, you know, three times in one week, they stole everything I owned.”

Vierra was among the initial residents to move into Salt Lake City’s first legal homeless camp, located on Redevelopment Agency-owned land at 600 West and 300 South.

And she likes — no, scratch that, loves — her new place.

Here, she doesn’t have to worry about her things being swiped. Here, there’s a private space to hang up Christmas lights. Here, she has access to supportive caseworkers.

“At least they act concerned,” she said. “They act like they want to help, so I’m hoping that this will be my turning point to get off the streets.”

How the camp operates

With 25 pods available for residents (each structure houses two people), the legal homeless camp — the first of its kind in Utah — is a partnership between the state and city. Officials announced plans for the camp over the summer after the City Council set aside money for such a project.

As of Tuesday morning, 17 residents were living at the camp. Officials with Switchpoint, the nonprofit homeless services provider that oversees the site, expect the camp to reach its 50-person capacity by week’s end.

Residents have their belongings searched before moving here — no drugs or alcohol are allowed — and have their living spaces checked hourly. They are allowed two bags in their room. Additional belongings can be locked in a moving container.

Toilets are on-site, morning coffee is provided, and showers are available around the corner at the Weigand Resource Center. If you want to smoke on the grounds, you have to do so in a designated area.

Pets are allowed within the campground. There is even a fenced dog relief area.

Camp residents live in what look like stripped-down tiny houses that feature private spaces with lockable doors, fold-up beds and tables, electricity and heating units.

Stepping into a pod provides immediate relief from the December chill.

The idea of the campground is to give those who dislike or distrust the environment of a traditional shelter — people like Vierra — a lower-barrier option to move inside. State and city officials call the site a “temporary microshelter community.”

Residents must receive a referral to access the campground.

“The microshelter community, designed for noncongregate living, offers immediate relief to unsheltered individuals currently residing on the streets of Salt Lake City,” state homelessness coordinator Wayne Niederhauser said in a Monday news release announcing the site’s opening. “Our goal is stabilization, ensuring not only a secure and safe environment but also providing individuals with a sense of security for themselves and their personal belongings.”

Why Switchpoint signed on

Mayor Erin Mendenhall, meanwhile, said in the release that she was grateful to Switchpoint and the state’s Office of Homeless Services for collaborating on the pilot project.

“Partnership, compassion and deliberate organization of the temporary microshelter community,” she said, “are establishing an important model of shelter services that can support individuals in communities across the state.”

Switchpoint will run the site through April 30. The nonprofit was named the operator of the camp after the state’s first attempt at finding a service provider fell flat.

Carol Hollowell, Switchpoint’s executive director, said she didn’t apply to run the site the first time because she didn’t like the scope of work outlined in the initial request for bids. That original ask, she said, didn’t fit her organization’s mission of finding permanent housing solutions.

The second bid request, she said, put more emphasis on a long-term plan for a sanctioned camp.

Switchpoint got involved, she explained, to help homeless Utahns who have not had access to case management and housing resources.

Hollowell said a more permanent site will be necessary for a legal homeless camp to work — somewhere with hard surfaces to better accommodate those with walkers or wheelchairs, somewhere with permanent on-site showers, somewhere with better space for case managers.

“When we’re looking at it in a pilot project, there’s a lot that we could do differently in a permanent project,” she said. “For me, why I said yes was, we really want to have a continuum of care.”

A state-led camp is slated to open sometime next year. A separate request for bids will go out to select a service provider for that site.

The temporary camp isn’t long-term housing, Hollowell said, but it is an opportunity to get homeless Utahns on the path to it “within, say, 60, 90 days.”

That’s the path Vierra wants to walk.