Homeless people have been impacted by COVID-19 restrictions

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – We have all been impacted by COVID in some way or another, but one group of people has been hurt by the virus’s impacts more than others.

Homeless people have been impacted in ways you may not even realize by this virus.

“It’s scary. It’s beyond scary. It’s not a good time to be homeless,” said James Bryant, a local man currently displaced.

With COVID-19 causing closures, there are times when there is nearly no place for him to use the restroom during the day.

“I was at a tire spot up the road, his bathroom was closed, and I said, ‘can I use your restroom?’ He said, ‘no it’s closed.” I said, ‘I got to use it.’ He said, ‘There’s a dumpster.’ He told me to use it out back by the dumpster. I refused it of course,” said Bryant.

They also have trouble finding jobs or making small amounts of cash during the pandemic according to Captain Michael Cox, the director of the Salvation Army of Bowling Green.

“They were already living this hardship that you find trying to find ways to make money, whether it be helping somebody in the yard doing yard work or standing on the street corner or any of those things but not realizing that those coin shortages that we were going through was no longer available. People were no longer able to just hand out money or to hire someone to come in and cut grass because they didn’t have money now,” said Cox.

Homeless locals are also struggling in the same way we all are: maintaining social interactions.

“The biggest concern that we’ve seen for our homeless community is that there was nowhere for them to gather. They were missing that gathering where they could be together. Everyone was required to be so far apart. Some folks like to think homeless means that you like to be by yourself in a quiet corner somewhere. Not all homeless are like that,” said Cox.

With most places re-opening and allowing customers in, things are looking up for the homeless population, but there is still a long way to go before things get back to normal for clients at the Salvation Army.