Homeless in RI: More agencies, more staff, more money – more homeless. Overnight shelter chaos.

By Sara Santacruz, Brown University ‘25 

Publisher’s Note: This article was submitted by Street Sights – and Sara Santacruz, a Brown student helping to gather emergency information during this cold winter. Notably, RINewsToday spent two weekends calling each homeless program, city and town police departments, fire departments, and EMS contacts, to gather information, create a document with it, and to distribute it where it could be best used. We can corroborate Sara’s experience. Notably, the RIEMA put the information as it was given to them on their site – often outdated, inaccurate and certainly incomplete. While they gather none of it, they have at least taken up the task of posting what was given to them – by agencies who should do a better job – a much better job.

While there is no master count of agencies serving the homeless, one source says, just in the Providence area, and just among private nonprofits, there are 8, employing over 100 people. This does not count social services agencies such as the CAP programs, and others. Once information is confirmed, where is the action plan to disseminate it out on the streets? We found Providence EMS was doing the yeoman’s share of the work, walking into encampments to encourage people to get out and where they could go, even providing transportation for some.

In some cases we found ourselves advocating for a closed shelter to open, such as in West Warwick, with the kindness of the local fire chief, and in East Providence, with the mayor’s office. Summer is coming, it’s expected to be a hot one. Now’s the time to put this emergency plan into place. Instead of advocating to “leave them in their tents”, do the work to help them get to healthier shelter, and perhaps a chance to interact with social services who can help them. We recall one person in an encampment in Cranston who held a voucher, but had no idea what it was and how to use it. A little time, a little one on one, and that person was able to access services.

Recognizing that in Rhode Island as many as 3, 4, 5 people died this winter, it’s time to charge an agency with the emergency shelter plan – we’ll even call it Rico’s List – in honor of Rico, who died, outside in the cold, very near a warm homeless housing resource. With social workers walking by him, doing their Point in Time count. – and assuming he was asleep.

Rhode Island’s Cold Reality: How Shelter Information Falls Short – by Sara Santacruz

Every human being deserves the dignity of warmth and protection from the cold when temperatures drop. So why is finding shelter in Rhode Island still so difficult? 

Amidst this winter’s extreme cold, Rhode Island’s unhoused community faces more dangers than just biting winds and freezing temperatures. Many struggle with the often invisible barriers of outdated, incomplete, and hard-to-find information about open shelters and warming centers. For those seeking warmth, what should be a simple search can quickly become a frustrating maze of dead ends and misinformation.

As a part of Brown University’s Anthropology of Homelessness course taught by Dr. Irene Glasser, I have partnered with Street Sights magazine as a student volunteer. This past February, I was assigned what I viewed as a straightforward research task: compile an accurate list of information regarding Rhode Island’s warming centers and shelters, an essential service amidst the extreme weather conditions we had been experiencing. 

I expected to spend an afternoon cross-referencing websites and logging shelter details but instead found myself fighting against a never-ending web of outdated information, vague location details, and missing contacts. What started as a quick logistical task revealed the deeper structural failure that Rhode Island’s emergency shelter information systems are fragmented, inaccessible, and dangerously outdated. The cost of these gaps is not just inconvenience, but for those trying to survive the cold, it might be their lives. 

The Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency (RIEMA) maintains a public webpage meant to help residents find warming centers and emergency shelters throughout various counties during extreme conditions. Each section felt incredibly lacking in the number of locations listed and, worse, provided little to no details beyond names and addresses. One entry, simply containing the first date it opened, lacked even a name or any hours of operation. 

Confusion and discrepancy quickly became apparent as I attempted to fill in the gaps by accessing the individual shelter and center websites. One shelter, listed under the “24-hour drop in” shelters boldly disclaimed on the front page of their website that shelter was “not guaranteed”. Another required individuals to call in advance to be considered for its limited beds, a detail completely missing from RIEMA’s page.

What concerned me most was RIEMA listing a shelter as a 24-hour drop-in site, when the shelter’s own website showed it had only offered this service for a one-day weather emergency – on January 8th. I had no way to determine whether RIEMA had failed to update its listing or if the shelter’s website contained inaccurate information. 

These aren’t minor miscommunications, they are systemic lapses in clear messaging that present life-threatening consequences. Imagine walking miles in freezing temperatures to a shelter you found posted on your state’s emergency website, only to arrive and be turned away. For unhoused people without reliable transportation, a working phone, or consistent access to Wi-Fi, one bad lead means sleeping outside in weather that can kill. 

What is especially alarming is the fact that these failures persist despite the significant public investment these organizations receive. RIEMA receives federal and state dollars to coordinate emergency response, and organizations such as the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness, also receive public funding to provide essential outreach and referral services. RICEH’s Street Sheet, a longstanding document that centralizes shelter, meal, and treatment information includes helpful details like bus routes, food availability, accessibility accommodations, and various modes of contact.

The only issue is the copy they offer on their website hasn’t been updated since 2019, five years, one pandemic, and potentially countless service changes and closures ago. 

These challenges create a process that is only manageable by someone who is technologically savvy and has time to search with persistent effort, privileges unhoused individuals do not have. Sitting in my dorm room with stable internet access offered by Brown University and my personal laptop plugged into my charger, I still struggled to gather reliable data throughout the entire day I worked on this assignment. This was frustrating for me on many levels and emphasized the urgent need to create solutions to support our unhoused community that are actually reflective of their lived realities and experiences. 

Some might think that our more frequent warm and sunny afternoons mean that this concern has faded, but I would argue that this issue is not seasonal. These structures are the same ones that will be relied upon during summer heat advisories or other sudden emergency conditions. Because of this, we must hold publicly funded organizations accountable for maintaining accurate, timely, and accessible shelter information. Partnerships with local shelters and government or nonprofit organizations should be strengthened so that agencies like RIEMA are given accurate data and are able to post clear and comprehensive listings, encompassing essential details like contacts, operational hours, or even entry requirements. Weekly updates, especially during peak winter months when shelters may extend emergency shelter services, are also not an unrealistic request when lives are at stake; shelter is not a privilege, and information regarding it should not be either. 

No one should have to face this many barriers to find warmth in freezing temperatures. No one should have to be turned away because state-funded agencies fail to mention pre-screening requirements or provided outdated and inaccurate information. Most importantly, no one should have to feel ignored or not valued in dangerous conditions public systems are meant to protect their citizens from. Rhode Island has resources, what it needs is a commitment to communication and justice.

The result of Sara’s efforts – not at all guaranteed to be up to date as we publish this March 25, 2025:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PTWMsGWRelfVg59A3kVILX-sxPxhRyRudMk6HS7Mq14/edit?usp=sharing

Anonymous Contributor’s Notes:

TODAY: Rhode Island’s “Support of Homeless” is prescribed in Section 40, Chapter 17 of RI’s General Laws.  The Interagency Council on Homelessness (IACH) primary duties (4) are mandated in Sec. 40-17-3.  The responsibility for “a strategic plan to end homelessness” is described in Sec. 40-17-3 (1).

The requirement for a “Permanent Advisory Council” (PAC) is mandated in Sec. 40-17-5 (to be comprised primarily of advocates, service providers, unhoused representatives, etc.).   It’s critical to acknowledge that “the purpose of the council is to inform the IACH on the current status and issues facing the homeless throughout Rhode Island.” (Sec. 40-17-5(b) ). If the PAC isn’t real/active and at the IACH table what’s the purpose of the IACH?  Public fraud, a charade!  

Goddard, the head of Housing, newly confirmed, took an oath to abide by the state constitution & all its laws.  Since the RI Senate did not hold Goddard accountable who will?  

Tomorrow’s IACH meeting (8:30am) will again, for the 4^th time under Goddard, deny formal representation and input from the unhoused community.  Goddard has willfully and knowingly violated the law since her Housing Secretary nomination. We must continue to advocate for social justice and legal compliance.