News reports about shower trailers being used to provide comfort to those recovering from natural disasters have prompted plans to have one in Columbia for use by the unhoused community.
Acting Deputy City Manager Michael Griggs organized the effort with city staff to get a shower trailer included in this year’s budget. He said he got the idea after seeing stories from other cities using trailers after natural disasters, which got him thinking about how this could be used for unsheltered individuals.
A team of city staff officials are working on purchase plans for a mobile shower trailer, after which they will determine locations for it to be placed around Columbia. City Council in September approved the city’s fiscal year 2023 budget, which included $110,000 set aside to fund the shower trailer.
Griggs said the city may also use the trailer in case of emergency or after public events, such as mud runs where people may want to rinse off before getting in their cars.
Griggs worked on the plan with Catherine Armbrust and Stephanie Yoakum of CoMo Mobile Aid Collective. The two said they hope their organization can help manage the project.
A mobile shower would improve accessibility to personal hygiene, they said, which would improve mental and physical health for homeless individuals.
“The cost for this is really kind of a drop in the bucket,” Armbrust said. “And in terms of the impact that will have on people’s well-being and personal health, I think it’s definitely worth the investment.”
Yoakum and Armbrust said the only public shower options available in Columbia have limited hours or have specific requirements around their use.
Turning Point offers shower services, but only for specific hours of the day, as does the Armory. The Activity & Recreation Center also has showers, although Armbrust and Yoakum said a person must exercise for at least 30 minutes before being allowed to use them.
Yoakum said the more immediate and budget-friendly option would have been to improve the accessibility of the already existing options, rather than creating an entirely new project.
The trailer plans are still in very early stages, as the city is still deciding what design to order. Griggs said once the order is placed, he will have a delivery date and further planning regarding locations and schedules will begin.
Fourth ward council member Nick Foster said the purchase of a mobile shower trailer is beneficial to the community and that everyone will “benefit when we meet the needs of those who are struggling in this way.”
Foster also said the shower trailer is just one piece of how the city is trying to address homelessness, alongside other projects such as the proposed homeless opportunity campus and the city’s purchase of the VFW building for use by Room at the Inn for overnight shelter during the winter
Yoakum said it is important to emphasize “incremental solutions” such as the shower trailer, especially when the timelines for these other projects are more abstract. She said the trailer will have a more immediate impact by addressing people’s current needs for a shower, which she also hopes improves housed people’s perspectives on Columbia’s unhoused population.
“I would hope that the average person in the city, a housed individual seeing someone, would take pride in the fact that now people have access to something much cleaner,” she said.
In an area that experiences both hot summers and cold winters, the shower trailer can help prevent health complications. Yoakum said shower accessibility is a health issue, as better access can help avoid infected bug bites in the summer and athlete’s foot in the winter, as well as improve mental health.
Armbrust said the shower trailer will change how homeless people feel about themselves and how the public views them.
“Everyone we’re working with has a heart and a soul and deserves to be cared for and seen,” she said.
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