After plans for a 24/7 emergency homeless shelter in Saratoga Springs were pulled in February amid opposition from neighbors, a new proposal has been unveiled. Representatives of non-profit organization RISE Housing and Support Services presented their plans Tuesday night.
Appearing before the Saratoga Springs City Council on Tuesday, RISE Executive Director Sybil Newell presented plans for a temporary, low-barrier shelter.
The shelter would be located at the most recent home of Code Blue Saratoga on Adelphi Street, in a commercial corridor.
Its location is steps away from RISE’s headquarters, and the non-profit is planning upgrades to the existing facility – something Newell said is necessary for a year-round shelter.
“There's now air conditioning, there's now laundry, there's privacy fencing around the property. There is a staff area that is secure with plexiglass windows for staff safety. And we have privacy dividers that are currently owned by RISE that we had to buy during COVID to separate our staff. So, there’s some big dividers so residents of the shelter would be able to have some privacy. What we propose to offer is shelter in the form of 25 to 30 beds…”
Officials in Saratoga Springs have been looking for ways to address homelessness. A permanent low-barrier shelter has remained elusive.
Newell said such a facility would greatly improve the lives of the city's unhoused population.
“So low barrier shelter is really important because there is almost always a segment of the population that's really just unable or not ready to engage in services. So, this is really just a safe place, a roof over people's heads, a welcoming community somewhere where they can come and not be expected to engage right away in services until they're ready.”
The new proposal comes after non-profit Shelters of Saratoga backed out of plans to establish a shelter in the former Saratoga Senior Center on Williams Street in February.
SOS, which has operated Code Blue and also maintains case-managed facilities on Walworth Street, withdrew its proposal after opposition from parents of students and administrators at the nearby Saratoga Central Catholic School.
In response, Mayor Ron Kim established a task force on homelessness to determine a new location for the shelter. The Democrat says a solution can’t wait.
“As I've said, many times, technically the city does have a full year-round homeless shelter. It's one of our parking garages. That's not safe for the public. It's not safe for our visitors. And it's certainly not safe for homeless individuals who don't currently have shelter.”
Mayor Kim says the task force has worked to find locations away from school properties and is seeking a change to the city’s zoning code.
“We are now proposing, as another part of this, a 1,000-foot buffer in our UDO, the Unified Development Ordinance. So, it would be in the zoning code, the most powerful way of preventing it, that there would no longer be— that we would not cite a homeless shelter within 1000 feet of a school.”
Shelters of Saratoga is not involved with the mayor’s task force.
Days after it withdrew its plans for the former senior center, SOS announced that it had found an alternative site. That location has not been publicly disclosed, but SOS Executive Director Duane Vaughn says the organization remains dedicated to providing essential services to at-risk individuals.
“I think when you undertake a year-round, low barrier shelter you’ve got to make sure that those other pieces are in place. Where are these people going to go? Is there going to be the essential pieces that help them progress out of homelessness, right? And I think that's what everybody is trying to work on…We are invested in helping whatever way we can, you know, all's they have to do is say, hey, SOS, we need help with this or that—whatever it may be, we will be there.”
Mayor Kim says the temporary shelter operated by RISE will be paid for by the city with hopes of securing additional public funding and private support.
“It's a little under $300,000 a year, we believe we are going to be looking for other sources of revenue to do that. In the short term, which is in the next six months, the city will allocate some of their monies from their surplus to provide that, but in the long term, what we hope is to continue to seek partners with the private sector, the county, the state government.”
A public hearing on the issue is set for 4 p.m. Friday before a vote. City and RISE organizers are aiming to open the shelter on Monday.
A previous version of this story indicated that the property being discussed is owned by the city. The property on Adelphi Street is privately owned.
