Outgoing Saratoga Springs Mayor Ron Kim’s Task Force on Homelessness has delivered its recommendations.
The Democrat's task force met for a final time Monday as Kim prepares to leave office after one term.
The task force voted unanimously to approve its recommendations for the city to establish a permanent low-barrier shelter for unhoused residents.
The task force narrowed down a list of 25 possible locations to three, one primary choice with two backups. The first choice was 135 Broadway, but since the owner had no interest in selling, the task force put a roughly 4-acre plot two miles east of the city’s downtown on Lake Avenue at the top of the list.
John Dewley, one of a handful of Saratoga Springs residents who attended the meeting, made sure to thank the task force during the public comment period.
“We can finally move forward on a resolution to this to find a place for our homeless because we definitely need that. They need something and we need a place to help them better,” said Dewley.
Dewley also commended the task force for overcoming a number of hurdles since first meeting in March. It helped to establish a 1,000-foot buffer between proposed shelter locations and any schools – a hot-button issue after a shelter was proposed for the former Saratoga Senior Center across the street from a Catholic school.
Hannah Hurley, a co-chair of the Capital District Democratic Socialists of America’s Housing Committee, voted no on the proposed three sites during previous meetings. Hurley joined other members of the task force Monday, voting to put forward their final recommendations, but voiced her concerns to the task force, Mayor Kim, and city residents.
“I also think that the Lake Avenue location, since it’s 2.1 miles from the city center, is not feasible at this time,” said Hurley. “It doesn’t connect everybody else to the rest of the continuum of services. There’s not a sidewalk there. I took the walk myself, it took me about 44 minutes to get from the number one proposed location down to city hall so if someone were to want to come to one of these meetings it would take them 45 minutes.”
Hurley pointed out that other locations from the original 25 scored higher on a matrix created to weigh various factors, yet were not selected for the final three. Despite her criticisms, Hurley says she remains dedicated to seeing the task force’s goal through to the end.
“There’s of course a lot to do. All of this is going to take a long time. I think it’s worth it so I’m going to continue to stay at it for a permanent shelter because we’re seeing the success of the temporary shelter right now. But, again, that’s temporary and I don’t know when that’s going to expire. But we’ve seen, I mean, if you look at Woodlawn which was the number one area to complain about there’s nobody there because they’re all at the shelter,” continued Hurley.
Hurley was referring to a temporary, year-round, low-barrier shelter being run by RISE Healthy Housing and Support Services that opened this summer. The shelter, which has more than 30 beds, has been credited with helping empty the city’s Woodlawn parking garage, long used as an unofficial shelter.
Mayor Kim took Hurley’s points as a positive, saying he understands that this process needs the utmost attention.
“I do think that some of her points about the selected location are legitimate, I think the City Council will have to wrestle with those, I think the public will have to wrestle with those. And the other thing, as the chair Tom Roohan indicated, there has been—we’re in a very dynamic marketplace. There could be other lots that are available so that could also be something that the city council looks at,” said Kim.
Republican Mayor-elect John Safford, who defeated Kim in a three-way race, says while he hasn’t talked with Kim specifically about the task force, he plans on having it present to the new city council in early February.
“And I am looking forward to continuing to work with that committee, providing that they want to stay on. And we’ll definitely be having conversations with them and hopefully trying to expand a little bit on some of the things that they might be doing,” said Safford.
