{"id":24501,"date":"2024-12-09T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/as-winter-nears-durangos-houseless-community-looks-to-stay-warm\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:55:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:55:15","slug":"as-winter-nears-durangos-houseless-community-looks-to-stay-warm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/as-winter-nears-durangos-houseless-community-looks-to-stay-warm\/","title":{"rendered":"As winter nears, Durango\u2019s houseless community looks to stay warm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\u201cThey
\u201cThey say that we\u2019re living the American dream \u2013 no we\u2019re not. I\u2019m not. I'm living two steps below poverty. And I\u2019m saying every day, \u2018This ain\u2019t a dream.\u2019 This is a walking nightmare. It\u2019s a nightmare that I chose, though,\u201d said Terry \u201cGypsy\u201d Woody in his camp in Durango. Gypsy has been homeless for nearly a quarter century. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The wisdom of Terry \u201cGypsy\u201d Woody has a certain vibrancy to it.<\/p>\n

In a unique tongue reminiscent of his Scottish birth land and Texan rearing, the 60-year-old offers sermonic morsels through a graying tangle of facial hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say that we\u2019re living the American dream \u2013 no we\u2019re not. I\u2019m not,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m living two steps below poverty. And I\u2019m saying every day, \u2018This ain\u2019t a dream.\u2019 This is a walking nightmare. It\u2019s a nightmare that I chose, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

With only a small stash of belongings, a camouflaged tent and the ring of his late wife secured on a macram\u00e9 necklace, Gypsy is on the precipice of his third winter living on the street in Colorado.<\/p>\n

\"Terry
Terry \u201cGypsy\u201d Woody wears his late wife\u2019s wedding ring around his neck. He hopes that he will get some sort of housing before the deep cold and snow set in. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

With a propane heater and ample food, Gypsy says he feels set up for winter. But he\u2019s working with organizations in the community to find long-term housing \u2013 ideally before frigid weather arrives in full force.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m getting to that age that I just can\u2019t do this anymore,\u201d he said, sitting by his modest camp on a November day. \u201cAll together, I\u2019ve been homeless 24 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chuck Johnson is in a similar position.<\/p>\n

At 57, Johnson has spent over a third of his life living in and out of homelessness.<\/p>\n

His demeanor ranges from tender and self-reflective, to feisty and incisively critical.<\/p>\n

Johnson had an apartment in Espero, the low-income supportive housing community in Durango, which he lost last fall after a conflict with another resident escalated.<\/p>\n

And although he says he\u2019s prepared for winter, he\u2019s scared nonetheless.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cThe
\u201cThe cold is relentless. \u2026 And that\u2019s the thing that scares me the most,\u201d said Chuck Johnson, who has been homeless on and off since 2001. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThe cold is relentless,\u201d Johnson said. \u201c\u2026 And that\u2019s the thing that scares me the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

La Plata County Coroner Jann Smith said two people died of hypothermia in 2020 and one died in 2021.<\/p>\n

As cold weather arrives, Durango-area organizations are offering many of their usual services.<\/p>\n

Manna\u2019s Program Director Chris Andrews said the organization has one full-time street outreach worker who delivers hot meals to people in transitional housing, hands out sleeping bags and hand-warmers, and connects people living on the street with the organization\u2019s other resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as possible we\u2019re trying to support \u2026 getting people housed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At Manna\u2019s headquarters, the resource center has more cold weather clothing and gear available at no cost. Basic warmth-providing gear is critical, several homeless people say.<\/p>\n

\"Terry
Terry \u201cGypsy\u201d Woody at his campsite on Nov. 14 in Durango. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m getting to that age that I just can\u2019t do this anymore,\u201d he said. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe need good sleeping bags \u2013 not (expletive) sleeping bags,\u201d said one man, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity. \u201cWe don\u2019t need \u2019em to go to Walmart buy $10 sleeping bags. We need (stuff) that goes down like 20 below, 10 below.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pain from his arthritis in the cold is \u201cunbelievable,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most notable addition to the resource landscape this year is Community Compassion Outreach\u2019s overnight warming center.<\/p>\n

The compassion center, located on U.S. Highway 160 west of town, has for the last year <\/a>been a place where people can come for a rest, to get warm and receive food. Starting Dec. 1, CCO received approval to run an overnight emergency warming center when temperatures dip below 15 degrees \u2013 but not a shelter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting,\u201d said Mike Todt, chairman of the warming center council. \u201cThis is, for many of us who have been working on this, a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

The center will not have beds and technically sleeping is not allowed. It will operate from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and, critically, is a low-barrier shelter. That means pets are welcome and sobriety is not a required qualification for entry. At first, capacity will be capped at 20 people, but it can expand up to 40 people depending on the number of volunteers available.<\/p>\n

\"Terry
Terry \u201cGypsy\u201d Woody hopes to find a permanent roof to live under before winter fully sets in. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Organizations such as the Community Investment Alliance, working with Manna, have achieved some success with bridge housing, a temporary solution to get people off the street before they secure a long-term unit.<\/p>\n

Gypsy is still looking for this long-term solution.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, he holds onto his personal optimism.<\/p>\n

\u201cTry to stay positive,\u201d he says. \u201cHard times will come; they will pass.\u201d<\/p>\n

rschafir@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

overnight warming center will be available on nights below 15 degrees<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,611,453,1164],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-homelessness","tag-housing-and-urban-planning","tag-snow"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78555,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24501\/revisions\/78555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24501"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}