TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) -- The Salvation Army men's and women's shelters in Tupelo are filled to capacity.
In the women's unit, there are six beds. The men's unit has 19 beds with one bathroom.
Those are not ideal living conditions if you ask William Harkness. He said he had to live there for awhile.
"We've got bunk beds, 13 of us guys in there and one bathroom, two seats right in there in the room," said Harkness.
William Archie used to live there, but now, he works for The Salvation Army.
He said Tupelo's homeless population has contributed to the overcrowded situation.
"When you come down Highway 6 or Gloster Street, every other one you see is homeless. They just don't look like their homeless, but they are homeless," said Archie.
"When it's cold weather, we open up no matter what," said Salvation Army Major Sue Dorman.
She said the facility is looking to raise money to expand the shelter.
She added that right now, there is hardly room to put a mat on the floor.
"We're looking to go up to about 40 beds. And that will give us 16 in the women's side. That's what we're looking at. And then we're looking at 24 in the men's [side]," said Dorman.
They have enough space, she said, behind the current facility to do just that, but a proposed expansion would cost about $650,000.
Tupelo Mayor Jack Reed Jr. is using his office to push the cause.
"I'm actually using the bully pulpit of the mayor's office to and my State of the City speech to use a part of that speech to say as a fellow citizen of Tupelo, let me put this on your heart to see if you can help the Army when they begin their capital campaign," said Reed.
The campaign will start in May, but The Salvation Army is already accepting contrbutions.
The organization acquired $100,000 toward its goal when it sold its recreational facility to the city of Tupelo.
