Approval sought for Cranston Street Armory to open for 50 homeless – after Dec. 7th

Statement from Governor McKee’s office afternoon of Nov. 30th:

Later today, several public meeting notices will be filed which will enable the McKee Administration to move forward on additional actions to protect the health and safety of individuals experiencing homelessness during the winter months. Ahead of that public posting, we wanted to provide you with some initial context. 

The State will open a temporary, 24-hour warming station inside the Cranston Street Armory. This warming station will be open to individuals experiencing homelessness who are living in a place not meant for habitation (e.g. street, car or in an abandoned building). 

The vision for this project is to serve as a temporary, low-barrier option that will immediately provide a safe indoor space for some of the most vulnerable people in this population, regardless of shelter or housing availability on any given night. The State expects to begin operating it as soon as possible and keep it open through April 15. It is the result of a cross-agency partnership among the Governor’s Office, Department of Housing, Department of Administration, Department of Business Regulation, Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and others. 

Today, the State is sending a letter of intent to providers to further engage them on wraparound services for the site. While the ultimate list of services and eligibility protocols will be finalized based on what comes out of those provider engagements and other pending operations approvals, we wanted to share information about the first stage of this process in the interest of transparency and public interest. 

This is just one of many actions the McKee Administration is taking to comprehensively respond to the shortage of housing, and the corresponding pressure it has created on our shelter system and homelessness support systems. Including:

• Announcing last week an additional $1.4M to fund over 75 additional shelter beds bring the total number of new shelter beds funded in 2022 to 351.  With these new shelter beds, the Department of Housing expects the statewide shelter capacity to include more than 1,000 operational beds
• Making $166M in funding available to support affordable housing efforts across the state
• Directing $9.5 million in federal funds to expand legal services to support low-income households facing housing insecurity. These funds can be used to connect individuals with services like eviction prevention and eviction diversion, mediation between landlords and tenants; case management related to housing stability; housing counseling and fair housing counseling.

Area to be used: yellow shaded Ballroom, only – approx. 4,000 sq. ft. out of the facility’s 190,000 square feet.

Letter accompanying application for expedited approval (highlight added):

Editor’s Note:

Sources confirm that there is but one pallet shelter in the state – there are no pallet shelters waiting to be set up. They are made in Oregon and are approx. $8,500 each and would easily take 1-2 months to implement.