LEWES, Del. - After three months of providing shelter to the homeless during the winter, Code Purple at the Cape will come to a close for the season on Saturday.
Code Purple is open from Dec.1 to March 15. The original plan was to open Tharros again once the churches closed. Tharros is a homeless encampment that allows for 28 single person tents, both men and women are allowed to stay at Tharros. It was previously located at the old Troop 7 lot on Coastal Highway.
Code Purple at the Cape Site Director, Mike Agnew, previously told CoastTV "Tharros is a Greek word that means courage and determination."
Agnew says Tharros was successful in 2024. He believes it will be successful in 2025 as well, though the opening of Tharros is currently facing a four to five week delay.
Under the Carney Administration, Agnew says he did not need a conditional land use permit for the encampment, however Agnew told CoastTV he was notified by the Meyer Administration in mid February that he would need a conditional land use permit from the county to open Tharros again.
In a statement to CoastTV, Agnew said, "The Meyer Administration has requested a conditional use permit from Sussex County. While the county has offered an accelerated path in this process, the full council vote is not expected until mid April, a delay of several weeks from the close of the winter shelter. As we complete the permit process, we remain committed to working through the necessary steps to provide a safe and stable option for those in need."
Agnew says he's working to secure shelter for the homeless in the mean time, and is "eager to continue as a thought partner with the governor's office."
"Our goal is to implement a structured solution that benefits everyone and aligns with the Meyer Administration's expectations," Agnew shared in his statement.
He has successfully been able to secure shelter for two people at Casa San Francisco in Milton after working with program manager Gary Belkot.
"We're happy to help them out. As of today and tomorrow, we'll be able to take on two people and we'll do the best that we can," said Belkot.
Casa Francisco is a low barrier shelter in Milton that provides a range of services including help getting documentation, emergency shelter and providing food, according to Belkot.
"I think there's a big, misconceived perception about what homelessness is and what it means to be homeless and how somebody comes to be homeless. But for the grace of God, any of us could be homeless. And if you took that and took the lid, so to speak, or the roof off of any of the houses wherever you are, the only difference between the people who are living in those houses and the people that come to us is that those people have, resources," said Belkot.
Agnew told CoastTV the Meyer Administration contacted the Department of Health and Social Services in regard to housing vouchers.
"DHS contacted me to talk to each of our guests to see who qualifies for hotel vouchers. They're typically offered to people that are unable to work and they can only be used once a year."
He says another reason he'd like to have Tharros open sooner rather than later is because many of the homeless have jobs in the Lewes and Rehoboth Beach area. Moving them further from their jobs would likely result in them losing their job.
Agnew shared his gratitude for his community partners for what he calls the success of Tharros in the fall. Community partners include Beebe Healthcare, First State Community Action Agency. Delaware State Police - Troop 7 and Casella Waste Systems, who has provided dumpsters, storage lockers and portable toilets.
He says Tharros was able to prevent a build up of trash and human waste in the woods, which he says would then become an environmental and health hazard.
He went on to share that Code Purple was successful this winter. Agnew says the fire marshal allowed him to shelter 32 people though he never did that.
"We tried to maintain it at 21, the fire marshal allowed us to go even higher than that, but we felt that that was too much to manage. There was a couple of nights where we actually had 25 guests here," said Agnew.
Another form of success in his eyes is the amount of volunteers with the program.
"We have a lot of people I would say well, over 300 volunteers within the program right now. About 160 of those are frontline volunteers."
As the volunteers take a well deserved spring and summer break, Agnew says he's working to file the necessary paper work for a conditional land use permit.
Agnew was asked in the event that Tharros does not open again this year, is there a chance of Code Purple at the Cape opening earlier, possibly in November.
"It's been discussed, I'm reluctant to move the dates, they work really well. It's a great ministry, and we have more and more volunteers, but we also have to take a break. The volunteers will burn out, and then the ministry will be at risk. So we have to be careful that we manage it appropriately in the nicer weather," said Agnew.
He also says the chance of the current Code Purple season being extended until Tharros re-opens is "very unlikely."
"Should the County vote down the opportunity to open Tharros in April, then all of everything that we've accomplished, since last October will be at a loss."