Barbara Kalil assembles another tent to join the others being set up on the State House lawn Wednesday to protest the state’s handling of the homeless.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

PROVIDENCE — Catherine Rhodes pitched her tent on the State House lawn Wednesday to protest what she says is a lack of state help for the homeless this winter.

State shelters are full, more people are sleeping outside and some people won’t be able to find beds when it freezes, said Rhodes, a volunteer with People to End Homelessness. “The governor needs to understand this is a crisis.”

Rhodes and others hung signs on trees and lamp posts facing Providence Place mall, not far from her small tent. “Homeless for the Holidays?” asked one. “When the weather outside is frightful ... homes for the homeless would be delightful!” said another.

The state Office of Housing and Community Development recently added 88 beds to the state’s more than 400 beds for the homeless, to handle a growing demand for shelter this winter.

But housing advocates say the plan doesn’t go far enough. According to the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, the state’s shelters were beyond capacity in late October, while nearly 80 people slept outside. The homeless population will grow as the economy worsens, said coalition director Jim Ryczek, who has asked to meet with Governor Carcieri to discuss the issue.

“We need the governor to get involved,” said Rhodes, who spent a year with her son in a homeless shelter in the 1980s. “We need leadership, and we need lawmakers. The state’s solution so far has been to evict people and make it illegal for the homeless to stay in tents where they are safe and warm.”

State and city officials this year evicted dozens of homeless people camped in tents in Providence, East Providence and Cumberland.

Dressed in a purple sweatshirt and a furry hat, Rhodes said she became homeless two decades ago after she became ill and couldn’t work. She spent a year with her son at Welcome House in South Kingstown.

“We were the only family there. We lived in a little room,” said Rhodes, who later went to the University of Rhode Island. “There was no place for my son to play — just a driveway.”

Rhodes says she plans to stay on the State House lawn until “something is done to alleviate this critical need.”

pdavis@projo.com