CAR Camp offers shelter for Columbia's homeless population

COLUMBIA — A small blue building with a parking lot was all the Trapp brothers needed for their newest attempt to provide shelter for the homeless.

Second Ward Council member Mike Trapp announced the official opening of the Gail Plemmons Memorial CAR Camp and Crisis Triage Center at a news conference Saturday, named for the late Gail Plemmons who advocated against homelessness.

Trapp has been working with his brother, John Trapp, and their LLC, AAAAChange to bring resources to Columbia’s homeless population for years. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, made them double down on their efforts.

CAR Camp is located at 2105 Paris Road – not to be confused as 2501 Paris Road, which is what the big black numbers above the door read.

The camp is a safe place for people without homes to park their cars at night to sleep. Although Trapp said the camp cannot accommodate those without cars, it offers other resources for anyone in need.

Guests are allowed to use the sanitation station set up to the side of the lot, which consists of portable bathrooms and a hand-washing station. Trapp said he and his staff will also give people a crash course on staying safe from the virus and provide them with other resources to better accommodate their needs.

Trapp has a background in social work himself, with a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Toledo. At the news conference, he called himself “central Missouri’s foremost expert on homelessness.”

He and his brother’s first attempt at finding a place for homeless people to go during the crisis was a shelter at the Welcome Inn. When that got shut down because of capacity and funding issues, the brothers created an encampment, which the councilman called Safe Camp, in a field at the southwest corner of Providence and Blue Ridge roads.

On April 6, the day Safe Camp was shut down by complaints from neighbors, Mike Trapp announced his plans for the CAR Camp on his Facebook page.

CAR Camp is run based on a series of practices Trapp outlined during the conference: self help and mutual aid; radical non-judgement; a “no barriers to entry” approach; an expectation that individuals with problems are the norm; a bases on people’s strengths; a focus on solutions and critical time intervention.

In other words, CAR Camp focuses more on relationships than bureaucratic oversight. People are welcome into CAR Camp without question or preconceived judgments, and the only screening they go through is for COVID-19.

Trapp said he assumes everyone using the camp will have some sort of past trauma, underlying mental illness or other problem, but the camp focuses on what people can do to help more than what they can’t. Trapp and his staff ask the people at the camp, “If you could be doing anything, what would you be doing?” to motivate them toward solutions.

The camp is also peer-monitored; Trapp said he trains current residents of the camp to help new residents. And Trapp said he expects there will be plenty of new homeless people seeking shelter with the current high rates of unemployment.

City Council addressed the issue of homelessness at its regular meeting April 6. The council voted 2-4, with Trapp abstaining, against a motion to use city parks as emergency shelters. However, the council agreed that the best course of action was for City Manager John Glascock, with help from the city health department, to use his authority under Columbia’s emergency resolution to find a solution.

Requests for proposals regarding this issue were due 5 p.m. Friday. The sanctioned encampment will require at least five trained staff or volunteers on-site, a log of everyone entering and leaving the camp, three meals per day, appropriate sleeping arrangements for those staying at the camp, and the ability to maintain proper hygiene.

Trapp said he does not plan to work with the city with this camp or any of his agency’s upcoming projects.

He did, however, call on Glascock to do more: Trapp said he wanted Glascock to use his emergency authority to override zoning codes and get people into permanent homes in the next 90 days.

“Because people shouldn’t live in shelters, people should live in homes,” Trapp said.

Glascock could not immediately be reached for comment.

This is not the Trapp brothers’ final solution. On Monday, John Trapp will begin a health monitoring project in which he will screen people without shelter for coronavirus. John Trapp will also organize “second Saturday clean-ups” for people to pick up trash left by encampments. And Mike Trapp said he had some leads for another open-air camp, though he is still hoping for a property owner with plenty of space to step forward.

Mike Trapp still had hope that the community can help the homeless population during this moment of crisis, as long as the focus is shifted toward those who are are the most lacking in resources.