In January, the women’s shelter Austin’s Place moved to the C-U at Home facility, coming under the same roof and leadership as the Phoenix Center drop-in center and men’s overnight shelter.
In May, C-U at Home closed and suspended services temporarily due to lack of staffing, then reopened with regular hours in August.
Earlier this week, all but one of the women’s shelter employees quit, citing intolerable working conditions. We reached out to a few of the employees who’d shared some of their experiences in social media posts. From Michelle Perez, an employee from June 2020 until August 30, 2021, who felt that the administration was actively looking for ways to fire staff members:
I very much enjoyed the work I was doing helping our friend’s [sic] without addresses but decided to leave due to the many issues that were going on at the workplace. Working with the management of the shelter hasn’t been the best of experiences, and I felt it would be best to leave for the well being of my emotional and mental state. I also have a strong moral sense of right and wrong, and I needed to take that into account.
Over the period of time I spent working there, I have experienced a variety of situations ranging from physical assault, verbal assault, racism, and more from the clients. But I also received harassment, manipulation, disrespect and slander from my boss…
After our Program Coordinator left from feeling discomfort with admin, the staff went from having no disciplinary infractions to admin deciding deserved to have write-ups for rules never previously established. It was hard for admin to keep justifying the bogus write-ups, so they decided to get rid of the write-up system and transition to an immediate dismissal system.
In a statement to The News-Gazette, C-U at Home Board President Maggie Johnson said:
The C-U at Home Board of Directors is aware of the current allegations on social media. Our current focus is on serving the men and women at the shelter and ensuring adequate safety and staffing is in place. We are reviewing the concerns brought forward and will conduct thorough research.
Top photo from C-U at Home Facebook page.