Beds with strings attached

Dede said the lack of available beds is helping drive Wilmington’s homeless crisis.

“When shelters don’t have enough beds for the number of people who need them, and even the few beds available require you to be sober or practice a certain faith, many people have no choice but to sleep outside,” she said.

Some shelters and substance use treatment centers are faith based and have rules clients must follow. Kim Eppehimer, CEO of Friendship House, which provides services to the unhoused across the state, said some places don’t accept LGBTQ+ residents or those with a criminal record.

Pyle has also been battling an opioid addiction. She currently has housing through New Life Ministries, a faith-based recovery program. She said she must pay $725 a month fee and attend religious programming. Unable to work, she said she feels pressure to come with the money on top of fines she has received for breaking rules.

“I’m basically trying to determine whether or not I’m just gonna pack and leave,” she said. I’d rather be back on the street. I didn’t have all the stress, I didn’t have all the demands.”

New Life Ministries Bishop Koy Stewart confirmed the $725 client fee participants must pay monthly, but he later said in a text message that charge is only to access their full programming and some clients are admitted before they are able to pay. He denied that clients are fined.

What are journalists missing from the state of Delaware? What would you most like WHYY News to cover? Let us know.

Violence prevention efforts were front and center at Delaware State University this week as End Community Violence Now hosted its first Community Violence Intervention Summit. The event at the university’s Dover campus gathered state and national leaders to celebrate progress and to share research, lived experiences and strategies to end community violence.

“We believe in a collective impact approach to addressing gun violence, particularly community violence,” said Lauren Footman, executive director of End Community Violence Now. “Our role is to not only coordinate our community violence organizations, but to ensure that they have the financial resources and the capacity-building resources to reduce gun violence across the state of Delaware.”

The summit began with a presentation from the Delaware Division of Public Health, revealing data that underscored both progress and ongoing challenges. Delaware ranked 39th in the nation for firearm deaths in 2023, with 124 deaths reported. The state ranked 28th in homicides, recording 55 deaths that year — a decrease from 64 in 2022. But suicide-related deaths rose: Delaware ranked 42nd nationwide, with 144 suicides in 2023, an increase from 130 in 2022.

“For communities of color … there is disproportionate impact of suicide prevention,” Footman said. “Suicide is one of the leading causes of gun violence in the state of Delaware.”

Despite those numbers, Footman’s group continues to lead coordination efforts on violence prevention across the state, including initiatives tied to the Group Violence Intervention strategy, an approach that’s already producing measurable results, particularly in the town of Laurel.

“In Wilmington, we have seen historic declines to prepandemic levels,” Footman said. “In Laurel, there’s been no reported homicides or shootings in 2025, and that’s where we’ve had targeted intervention and coordination.”

The organization hopes to see the intervention strategy expanded into more parts of the state.

“We are looking forward to when the state of Delaware fully expands GVI to Sussex County because it has been so helpful in the Laurel pilot,” she said.

She understands the kind of pressures that can lead a restaurant to shut its doors. Among the most difficult are the rising costs of supplies and ingredients.

“Las carnes están muy caras ahorita, demasiado cara la carne. Las carnes, el alcohol es demasiado caro también, antes no estaba tanto así”, ella dijo. “La verdad los los cambios los precios y los cambios que se ven en las compras son muy altas a lo a lo que es normal a lo que era antes”.

“Meat is very expensive right now, too expensive. Meat and alcohol are too expensive; it wasn’t that expensive before,” she said. “The truth is, the changes in prices and the changes we see in purchases are much higher than what was normal before.”

But what surprises her most is not the cost of ingredients — it’s the cost of labor. Running a team of nearly 20 employees, from servers and cooks to dishwashers and prep staff, comes with mounting payroll expenses that eat into monthly profits.

“Yo te puedo decir que para mí el mayor gasto tremendo que hay en mi negocio aparte de la comida, aparte del licor, aparte de la renta, aparte de los biles que incluye luz, incluye gas, incluye agua”, ella explica. “El mayor gasto que recibe mi negocio es el payroll. Es tremendamente sorprendente el payroll”.

“I can tell you that for me, the biggest expense in my business, aside from food, liquor, rent, and bills, which includes electricity, gas, and water,” she explained. “The biggest expense my business takes in is payroll. The payroll is tremendously surprising.”

To keep up with those rising costs, her restaurant had to make careful adjustments to menu prices, hoping to strike a balance between staying profitable and keeping customers coming through the door.

The Delaware Restaurant Association is aware of the industry’s challenges and has aimed to support local owners through training, policy advocacy and mentorship. Just recently, the association decided to go into different communities like the Latino community to see where it can better support its businesses.

“We’re learning what’s important to this community in opening restaurants and understanding that they need support,” Leishman said. “We’re also there to help support their growth and viability.”

Despite the difficulties, both share a common belief that local support makes the difference.

“Yo les diría que apoyemos que seamos solidarios y apoyemos a nuestra gente”, Lara Pulido dijo. “Porque si yo crezco, mi familia el día de mañana puede crecer … aunque sea solo de ir a comer una probadita de un postre o un appetizer también”.

“I think it’s important to support them,” she said. “Because if they’re not there, as we’re seeing with this recent closure … we’re going to miss them,” Lishman agreed.