Facing down a global pandemic is a frightening prospect. It’s even more so for the more vulnerable populations, especially those who don’t have a home where they can go into isolation.

“They’re scared, as this has always been difficult for them,” said Jodi Peterson, executive director at Interfaith Sanctuary. “I see them taking extra steps.”

Despite the misconception that homeless people may be aloof to what’s happening with COVID-19, Peterson said they are incredibly aware, and they’re frightened, too. As the spread of the disease has grown worse, organizations that serve the homeless population in Boise have felt the tightening squeeze of increased public health requirements. What’s more, their volunteer pools have been reduced to effectively zero.

“Now we’re really trying to create pop up testing,” Peterson said. “It’s been determined we should have access to testing.”

Peterson said she recently met with local healthcare officials to discuss what the steps forward are. While the future of the shelter’s ability to test residents on site is unclear, it’s hopeful because of the response of the people served by the shelter.

“We do temperature checks on every guest, every night,” Peterson said. “It lets them know where they’re at, and it makes them feel better coming on to the campus.”

Another challenge facing the shelter is not just the lack of volunteers, but the lack of space for vulnerable residents. To alleviate that, the shelter has moved all families and residents that are considered at risk to the Riverside Hotel, which was done through a partnership with the City of Boise, Peterson said.

Still, were there to be an outbreak at the shelter, the guest displaying symptoms would have to move to the Boise Rescue Mission, where one guest is already being tested and quarantined after displaying symptoms of COVID-19.

“We operate pretty closely with the Boise Rescue Mission; our protocol is attached with their protocol,” Peterson said. “It’s very difficult to say we’re not seeing cases of COVID-19 because we don’t have access to testing at this time.”

Without volunteers, the best way for Boiseans to help is to donate to the Idaho FoodBank, Create Common Good or Life’s Kitchen, all of which are providing aid to Boise’s homeless population, Peterson said. For now, Interfaith Sanctuary will continue to operate as normal, but isn’t quite prepared for an outbreak.

“We’ve tried to create a protocol that might meet safety standards but we just can’t,” she said.

Boise Rescue Mission did not respond to repeated requests for comment, but the shelter reported that it had isolated one guest displaying symptoms at its River of Life shelter.

For Boise’s lone daytime shelter, a lack of volunteer support didn’t just mean scaling back, it has meant closing its doors. Corpus Christi announced recently that it would have to cease operations.

“We just don’t have enough staff to man it,” said Don Ruffing, the acting coordinator of the Corpus Christi House. “We’ve lost those people and we can’t just keep things running this week.”

While the shelter still operated, Ruffing said the biggest thing for the shelter, beyond providing food for Boise’s homeless people, is offering sanitization to the homeless population. While it initially took some explaining, Ruffing said that most guests were amenable to the heightened standards. Ruffing echoed Peterson, saying the best way to help homeless organizations right now is to donate items like food and cleaning supplies. The shelter could also use monetary donations, he said.

The spread of COVID-19 undoubtedly creates issues for homeless populations across the country, but it could also grow the population as the economy atrophies under shop closures and shutdowns. While some states have issued a moratorium on evictions during the pandemic, Idaho is not one of those states.

“We’re probably going to need to financially support the families longer than we normally would,” said Stephanie Day, who works for CATCH, a local nonprofit that helps provide support to families with rent and housing.

A major emphasis from public health officials in this time is to self-quarantine and avoid unnecessary contact with people, often referred to as social distancing. Day said the most important aspect of being able to do that is having housing. Right now, there are about 10 families that are waiting in limbo. While CATCH doesn’t rely as heavily on volunteers as other organizations, it does rely on its interns quite a bit, all of which were recently sent home for safety concerns.

Day also anticipates a wave of evictions across the Treasure Valley in the coming months, given there is no stopping evictions from a state or local level.

“I don’t know how that’s going to play out,” Day said. “We’re just going to take it one day at a time.”