Homeless in RI: Spring. Warming shelters will turn to cooling – the seasons go round and round

Homeless in RI:  Spring will bring change

Today is the first day of Spring. There are hundreds of people living homeless. Some outdoors. Some in hotel rooms. Some in shelters. Some in cars and trucks. Some on couches.

In metropolitan areas you will see the mini villages in bright colored tents, many of which were provided by the homeless service agencies charged with getting people off the streets, and indoors. Some say they won’t go indoors. Some say they need to stay in small groups, to be saf(er). “The Department of Housing is also calling on cities and towns to provide sites and buildings for the purpose of expanding emergency shelter and permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness,” wrote department spokesman Joseph Lindstrom.

In more rural areas you will see them in doorways, or in business parking lots. In Central Falls, Mayor Maria Rivera says the homeless are not outdoors, they are doubled and tripled up in the city’s 3-story tenement houses. Maybe 2 or 3 children sleeping on a couch, or on the floor.

But Spring is coming and soon there will be a shift, a change. You won’t die if you live outdoors – at least because of the weather. You can start pan handling again or walking easily to food banks and soup kitchens for meals. Parks will be pleasant as spring rolls in, and the foliage will be thicker, easier to hide in.

With a new Housing Czar, former head of CommerceRI, Stefan Pryor, the activity is as intense now that the weather is warming – as it was as the weather was chilling.

Pryor is now working to identify new shelters to take the place of the existing shelters, and instead of heat, it’s air conditioning on the wish list.

Concerns have been raised to spread out the housing for the homeless throughout the cities and towns, and neighborhoods of Providence, and not concentrate them all on the south side of Providence. The long term solution is not congregate shelter. But short term solutions need a lens of equity for the entire community as well.

The topic of “temporary pallet shelters” has begun to surface again. The Pallet Shelters have taken hold for a solution for next winter. Some homeless advocates call them not a solution at all, just “homeless-in-a-box”.

While the state is looking at affordable housing, they need to also look at low income housing. While housing bills for the long term are being considered, there is not much in the way of addiction and mental health services.

A long meeting was held – kudos to UpriseRI for always being there to capture meeting like this:

The Cranston Street Armory

Originally scheduled to close on April 1^st, when it would be cleaned and returned to developers so they can begin their plans for a destination economic driver for RI, the facility was extended to mid-April – and now May 1^st – as other housing is not being found. Pryor says they are “spanning out across Rhode Island” and talking to cities and towns and municipalities to identify locations and solutions. And the work is hard. And unproductive more days than not. “I would be lying to you if I said we had a bed for every person there by April 30. We just don’t have enough shelters,” said Eileen Hayes, the director of Amos House, who is running the shelter at the Armory. Even if the shelter could be maintained, neighbors are starting to complain about drug paraphernalia on the streets and in the park, rescue runs, and how they can’t let their children out while all this is going on.

The Providence Journal had a disturbing report about the Armory, noting: “Surrounding agencies took to just dropping people at the armory. In the first week, two octogenarians, one with stage 4 cancer, were dropped off at the center and slept on cots for a month until they could be placed into an assisted living facility, while many other people were dropped off at the shelter by area hospitals…Five people were treated for frostbite, four went through medical detox at the armory because they were undocumented and couldn’t get beds elsewhere. Another 15 were sent to detox programs, and 15 people have been sent to assisted living facilities.

Proposals are being considered to restore The Cranston Street Armory and there should be decisions announced in May of this year.

In Pawtucket

Somewhere between 5 and 10 men are living under an overpass in Pawtucket. How do we know this? Not because the homeless agencies are telling us about their great need, or state officials are pleading their case. We know this because WPRO reporters – and WJAR reporters – have gone up the hillside, trepeditiously, and interviewed them. We know of Jay, and we learned that he is in his 30s, not our presumption of an old man living in such circumstances. We thought there might be only Jay up there, but we learn there are about 5 – and used to be about 10.

Local legislators have gone over to help clean. Jay says he’s doing the best he can to keep up with the litter and he has even put garbage out by the side of the road, and it was removed. Jay says no one but a nun has talked to him – he says no social workers – no DOT, no city of Pawtucket. According to Jay they need to stay close by because they panhandle during the day at “their spots” by the highway. They have stuff. They can’t go to a shelter because there is nowhere for all their worldly belongings to go.

School Street Encampment

At least 5 brand new North Face tents have cropped up along the river on School Street.

1139 Main Street, Pawtucket

What was to be a temporary warming shelter put into service for a bitter cold, few days has now taken on its greater mission of a full time warming shelter, prepared to house 30-50 people around the clock. With wraparound services, it is the newest shelter of its kind to open. It is run by Open Doors RI with food provided by the Pawtucket soup Kitchen. The Weber Center is also working with them.

One of its first charges was to help the men under the overpass, and as of a week ago, more than one, but not all, are now seeking shelter and services at 1139 Main street. We don’t believe Jay is one of them, but give them time. Open Doors RI works primarily with the prison and helping people on a peer to peer basis, reorient to life in society. With a staff that includes a case manager and health worker, the new warming center aims to “offer people as much support as we can for them to move onto the next part of their life,” said Nick Horton ’04, co-executive director (with Patrick Westfall) of Open Doors. Open Doors has “been doing similar work for close to 20 years,” Horton said. “Our agency is largely led and staffed with people (who have) lived experience of either incarceration, addiction or homelessness.” They work quietly and have been off the grid of the media, though not the people working in the prison system.

Open Doors describe their unique service this way: “This is a low-barrier warming station that does not require CES referral for entry and is available for any unhoused men and women. Currently, there is no intake or referral process, and we have capacity to accept more visitors and residents.” Andy Horwitz, of  Roger Williams University, School of Law serves as Chairman of the Board.

The warming station provides:

• 3 Meals a Day
• Bathrooms
• No access to showers, initially
• Peer recovery support services and other supportive services

For more information, email [email protected] or come down in person.

Memorial Hospital

Still not open after a water leak had over 80 “families” who were being housed in part of the closed hospital campus, relocated to a hotel in Warwick. This weekend, a scathing expose done by reporter Amanda Milkovits of the Boston Globe and published Saturday, March 18^th, it was learned that local entrepreneur, Michael Mota, approached the homeless agency saying he could get the building back up and running, that he was “an ally…trust me”.  Apparently Memorial, which was to be used for housing and services for veterans, went into voluntary foreclosure and the building was “given” to Bayport, a company owned by Mota. Mota said with funding he could fix the building. Mayor Grebien supported the plan. Josh Saal supported the plan. Gov. McKee supported the play. Mota needed $350K to open the building by January 1^st – but this would be part of a $100M plan to open a veterans home. “They’re coming to us, begging us, the people in the governor’s office, the people who are trying to fix homelessness,” Mota told the Globe on Jan. 3. Stefan Pryor has since visited the facility and is talking to Amos House again about opening it as a shelter. The Globe learned that a new company, Memorial Real Estate, LLC, a company formed by Mota – has taken over the mortgage on the property. He now has plans – which he has posted about on Facebook – to open it not only as an affordable housing facility – but as elegant, co-working spaces. “It’s going to be AN INSANE space available March 1st in Pawtucket, Rhode Island,” “Remember — you’re not alone. Your network is your net worth — BOOM.”

“The Department of Housing is also calling on cities and towns to provide sites and buildings for the purpose of expanding emergency shelter and permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness,” wrote department spokesman Joseph Lindstrom.

UPDATE: In an address to the RI Legislature, Stefan Pryor said the state will work on all options to see Memorial Hospital open and into the housing and emergency housing mix. This follows the scathing report in the Boston Globe about “entrepreneur” Michael Mota. Mota now holds the mortgage on the hospital.

Housing Crisis bills

Meanwhile, at the Rhode Island State House there are over a dozen bills directly impacting housing in Rhode Island – some with wide-ranging zoning implications – and some with longer term policy changes to spur development of affordable housing – none expected to have a direct impact on the spring homeless crisis, but it’s clear officials hope to be prepared for the next winter season.

A look at a California Plan

With California having 1/3 of the nation’s homeless population, the word “crisis” moves to “disaster” and Gov. Newsome will be unveiling his plan to build multiple residential treatment centers that would treat up to 10,000 each, providing housing and addiction and mental health services. He proposes to fund this by legislative approval of bonds. The facilities would be campus-like, with additional small homes and residential, long-term settings.

Coalition to End Homelessness

In a mid-March email as part of a donation-seeking campaign around the 401 campaign, the Coalition acknowledges, “Homelessness is a traumatic experience with potential long-term consequences. Child and youth homelessness is often hidden from sight – including from the practitioners and policymakers who can help alleviate the situation. Homelessness negatively impacts children and youth’s development, health, and education. The Coalition is always working towards making youth homelessness a rare and temporary occurrence. We are dedicated to centering and empowering the voices of youth and young adults with lived experience of housing instability and homelessness.”

The Coalition plans a YOUTH PIT Count in April. They currently are advertising more than 5 open positions for full time, part time, and volunteer opportunities – paid positions have salaries of $42-$70,000.

The RI Department of DCYF – (Children, Youth, and Families)

Recent counts conducted by homeless advocates identify children among the homeless currently in Rhode Island. Efforts to see if any of these have been reported to the RI DCYF office have been blocked with comments from the agency such as, “I will share this with the appropriate staff at DCYF and let you know when a response is available, but it might take a few days.” – sent to RINewsToday on March 7th. A few days before:

“As the state’s child welfare agency, the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth & Families remains concerned for the welfare of children and families who are homeless and living outdoors. DCYF continues to connect with the RI Coalition to End Homelessness on addressing the needs of families and children who are living unsheltered and waiting for shelter or emergency housing. 

DCYF communicated with the Coalition on February 17 to clarify and gain a better understanding about the number of unsheltered families with children in Rhode Island they reported at the legislative hearing (February 14). After discussion with the Coalition, it is the Department’s understanding that the Coalition’s data offers a point-in-time analysis of data that reveals information about families with children who might have been unsheltered within the past 30 days. The Coalition explained that those families could have also received assistance from the various available support systems available throughout the state, including DCYF providers such as the Family Care Community Partnerships (FCCPS), and received help locating temporary or permanent shelter, clothing, and food.  

The Department is aware of the continuous need and challenges homeless families face and, as we have done previously, DCYF stands ready, willing, and able to assist families who are experiencing homelessness and do not have a place to reside.”

While an official count can vary from day to day, the immediate reporting of children living outdoors or in unsafe conditions is clearly not being followed in accordance with the law.

Damaris Teixeira, Public Information Officer, State of Rhode Island, Department of Children, Youth & Families has forwarded the statement to us.

UPDATE: This week there was a fire at one homeless encampment in Providence – off Union Avenue – and one abandoned house squatting situation in New Bedford. The Providence fire had “propane tanks involved”. Another fire in the past few days in Brockton. One person injuried, no injuries were reported in other two fires.