'Welcome' is a funny word at this homeless shelter

About one-third of the people who seek assistance at the Sheridan Community Homeless Shelter are either later kicked out, or leave on their own because they can’t endure the contortions of living in the tilted chicken-wire hutch that is the director’s world.
Not only is the revolving door at the shelter spinning fast enough to affect the weather, those who are whisked away by the breath of the dictator’s nostrils are placed on an ever-thickening stack of pages known as the dreaded “Not-Welcome-Back List.”
It was, in fact, my job last year to dream up a written policy on this list. For nine years the shelter had been operated (yes, by the same director) without a set policy on how one got one’s name on “The List.”
Worthy shelters have a policy backed with a process by which an applicant can request a review. Worthy shelters let their resident know that this process exists.
As you might guess, policy or not, names are added to the list based on the whims and distortions of the director. If you are difficult to work with, disorganized, unsociable, or if she missed lunch that day, you are sure to go on “The List.”
To be included on this list is the director’s way of saying, “We Will Not Help You,” unless you consider a referral to the next shelter 100 miles down the road as “help.”
She has even talked about veterans in the contractual program with the VA, saying, “If he leaves for any reason, he won’t be welcome back.”
I know what you are asking. The answer is, “Because.” That’s how the “Not-Welcome-Back List” policy works.
Just last month, a Sheridan woman was found to be camping out by Interstate 90, and a certain amount of public brouhaha was raised.
In the newspaper, she made it clear that she could not use the Sheridan Homeless Shelter as a resource because “five years ago I got kicked out of there for using the ‘F’ word.”
Incidentally, in the written policy, there is no reference to the use of the “F” word, which I presume to be “Forbidden.”
This woman knew she was on “The List.” For five years.
This comment from the woman made the shelter look bad, so there was a scurry within Volunteers of America to nip the appearance of poor service in the bud, even though t’was true.
“Our image!” came the howl from local headquarters. “Our sacred freaking image!”
Much ado occurred in the office, and a lot of coffee was likely spilled in the effort of VOA officials to lunge at whatever was close by to use as covering for their asses, which were, to some extent, hanging out.
“Oh my,” cried the director in the newspaper. People can always come back to the shelter and, she said, if they have made some changes in their lives, they can come back. “We love to help people.”
Two problems: First, not a single individual in 2007 who was asked to leave, was told they could check back later to revisit their “status” on “The List.” Second, the shelter stance on the homeless is, “We love to help lovable people. Others, not so much.”