Homeless in RI: Winter Shelter Grants Open as Crossroads Sidesteps Shelter Questions

Rhode Island Opens Applications for Winter Homelessness Response Grants

The Rhode Island Executive Office of Housing is accepting applications for its 2026–2027 Winter Response Grant, which will support seasonal shelters and other initiatives aimed at protecting people experiencing homelessness during the coldest months of the year.

Municipalities, nonprofit and faith-based organizations, public housing authorities, community action agencies and other eligible partners may apply to establish or expand winter response programs.

“One of my top priorities as Governor has been to ensure that Rhode Islanders experiencing homelessness have access to safe, stable emergency shelter all year round, especially during the winter months,” Gov. Dan McKee said. “This grant will help communities strengthen their response while connecting more Rhode Islanders to the services and support they need.”

___

Crickets from Crossroads on Winter Shelter Plans

Crossroads Rhode Island, the state’s largest provider of housing and services for people experiencing homelessness, did not answer RINewsToday’s detailed questions about its winter emergency-shelter plans or whether its new and redeveloped Providence properties will include places where people may actually sleep overnight. Instead, its public relations consultant referred RINewsToday to the organization’s website and directed broader planning questions to state and Providence officials.

The distinction matters. Permanent supportive apartments, emergency shelter beds and warming centers are not interchangeable. A new apartment building may improve living conditions without increasing Rhode Island’s total housing capacity if the residents are simply moved from another building that is then taken offline. Likewise, a warming center may allow people to come indoors without providing beds, cots or permission to sleep.

Last winter, the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency published information about emergency weather shelters. However, hours varied, morning departure requirements differed and RINewsToday could not identify a statewide outreach plan explaining how people dispersed among encampments would learn which locations were open and what services they provided.

At Crossroads’ 160 Broad Street location last winter, people seeking overnight protection from the cold were limited to one bag and directed to remain seated in chairs. No cots were provided, and sleeping in chairs or lying on the floor was not permitted. An intake worker told RINewsToday that cleanliness and bedbug concerns were behind the restrictions.

Crossroads did not answer questions about whether those rules remain in effect, whether temporary storage is available or what happens when someone arrives carrying more than one bag—often all the possessions that person owns.

RINewsToday submitted the following questions through Crossroads’ public relations consultant:

Questions for Crossroads Rhode Island

Please distinguish in your answers among:

1. Permanent supportive apartments;
2. Emergency shelter with beds or other sleeping accommodations; and
3. Warming or cooling centers where people may enter but are not provided sleeping accommodations.

Overall campus plan

1. Do any of the three Providence buildings—94 Summer Street, 160 Broad Street or 371 Pine Street—currently provide, or plan to provide, general overnight emergency shelter where people are permitted to sleep?
2. For each building, please provide the number of:
   • Permanent supportive apartments;
   • Emergency shelter beds;
   • Warming or cooling center spaces; and
   • Medical-respite or crisis-stabilization beds.
3. What is Crossroads’ current total emergency-shelter capacity in Providence, and how does it compare with its capacity before the Pine Street shelter closed and the Tower residents moved?

94 Summer Street

1. Please confirm that Summer Street’s 176 apartments are/will be occupied principally or entirely by former residents of the Tower at 160 Broad Street.
2. Because approximately 176 Tower units were simultaneously taken offline, is it accurate that Summer Street improved the residents’ housing but produced essentially no current net increase in Crossroads’ active housing capacity?
3. Does Summer Street contain any emergency overnight shelter, medical-respite beds, warming center or cooling center?
4. Are any of its community rooms approved or intended to accommodate nonresidents during extreme weather?

160 Broad Street and the Tower

1. Is the former Tower residential section completely vacant, and what services continue operating elsewhere inside 160 Broad Street?
2. How many actual emergency beds remain at 160 Broad Street, including the women’s shelter? (if any) Who is eligible to use those beds?
3. Please confirm the rules governing the general overnight warming center:

• Are there any beds, cots or sleeping mats?
• Are guests prohibited from sleeping in chairs?
• Are guests prohibited from lying or sleeping on the floor?
• May each guest bring only one bag?
• Is storage available for additional belongings?
• What happens if someone falls asleep or arrives with more than one bag?

1. Does the proposed Tower rehabilitation include any emergency overnight shelter beds, or only permanent studio and one-bedroom apartments?
2. What is the final planned apartment count—81, 82 or 97?—and when will rehabilitation begin?
3. Will the women’s shelter and the warming/cooling center remain open during construction? If not, where will those services be relocated?

371 Pine Street

1. Crossroads opened a temporary emergency shelter at 371 Pine Street in 2020 with sleeping accommodations for up to 30 people. When did that shelter close?
2. Were those 30 emergency shelter beds replaced at another Crossroads location? If so, where and when?
3. Will the new Pine Street building contain any emergency overnight shelter, medical-respite beds, recuperative-care beds or temporary accommodations—or only 35 permanent apartments?
4. Public documents describe 2,500 square feet on the first floor as “commercial space,” while Crossroads describes it as space to be leased to health or mental-health provider partners. Please explain exactly what is planned.
5. Has a first-floor tenant or partner agency been selected? If so:

• What is the organization’s name?
• Has a lease been signed?
• What services will it provide?
• Will services be limited to Pine Street residents or open to the public?
• Will the space operate around the clock or during normal office hours?
• Will it provide primary healthcare, behavioral healthcare, substance-use treatment or only referrals?
• Will any portion be used for ordinary retail or commercial activity?
• Crossroads says Pine Street residents will have access to 24/7 case management. Will that be provided by Crossroads or by the first-floor tenant? Does “24/7” mean staff will be physically present in the building at all times?

Net housing and shelter capacity

1. Is the following calculation accurate?

• Summer Street: 176 apartments opened;
• Tower: approximately 176 units taken offline;
• Current net housing increase from that relocation: approximately zero;
• Pine Street: 35 permanent apartments for unique population expected to open later in 2026;
• Former Pine Street shelter: 30 emergency sleeping spaces eliminated;
• Tower rehabilitation: proposed additional apartments, but construction remains on hold or TBD.

1. Please provide Crossroads’ before-and-after calculation showing separately:

• Net permanent supportive housing added;
• Existing housing taken offline;
• Emergency shelter beds added or eliminated; and
• Warming/cooling capacity where overnight sleeping is not permitted.

The response, from their public relations consultant, was to ask what the context was for our questions and we responded that it was an article in response to recent plans by the state of Vermont to have a winter emergency plan in place and what was their plans for Rhode Island’s growing winter homelessness problem.

We received this response:

“The information you’re seeking about the number of PSH units at each of Crossroads’ developments is publicly available on the Crossroads website.

Any questions you have about broad planning for warming/cooling centers would be better directed to officials in the state’s Department of Housing or at the City of Providence. 

Crossroads is the state’s leading provider of housing and services for people experiencing homelessness, supporting thousands of individuals and families every year.”

The response did not answer the specific questions about Crossroads’ current number of emergency shelter beds, restrictions placed on people using the overnight warming center, the net number of housing units added or removed, or whether any of the organization’s new or redeveloped properties will include emergency sleeping accommodations.

Those distinctions will become increasingly important as Rhode Island prepares for another winter: an apartment is not an emergency shelter bed, and a chair in a warming center is not a place to sleep.

___

Housing funding from the state is available in two categories:

Seasonal Emergency Shelters

These shelters provide overnight beds or cots for people experiencing homelessness and must operate overnight from Nov. 1, 2026, through April 30, 2027.

Providers are encouraged to offer additional services, including case management, housing assistance, behavioral health care, substance-use treatment, meals and other resources that can help people move toward permanent housing.

Flexible Winter Response Projects

Organizations that cannot operate a shelter throughout the winter may apply for flexible projects designed to assist people living outdoors and reduce the risk of cold-related illness or death.

Projects may include emergency shelter services, street outreach, transportation, meals, case management, housing-stability assistance and temporary sites that open during severe weather.

“Homelessness response requires an all-hands-on-deck approach,” Housing Secretary Deborah Goddard said. “We encourage organizations across Rhode Island to think creatively about how they can strengthen their community’s response this winter by meeting people where they are, reducing harm, and connecting them to ongoing supports that will keep Rhode Islanders safe.”

The Executive Office of Housing is encouraging applicants to work collaboratively, combine funding sources and make the greatest possible use of existing community resources.

Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis and will be accepted until all available funding has been committed or Dec. 31, 2026—whichever comes first.

Eligibility requirements, application materials and additional information are available on the Executive Office of Housing’s Apply for Funds & Grants webpage.

___

This is RINewsToday’s 878th “Homeless in RI:” article