The Saratoga Springs City Council unanimously passed funding for the city’s temporary, year-round shelter earlier this month.
As temperatures continue to drop, the two largest homeless shelters in the Spa City have seen record occupancy.
Shelters of Saratoga has been running a seasonal Code Blue shelter since the tragic freezing death of a city woman in 2013.
This year, the Code Blue shelter, a pillar of the Saratoga Springs community service network, is in a different location – 120 South Broadway.
Shelters of Saratoga Executive Director Dwayne Vaughn says his staff was taken aback by the shelter’s occupancy.
“Well, I think it’s going as well as is to be expected. I think one part that we were a little surprised by that between the two low-barrier shelter, you know Code Blue being a low-barrier shelter also it’s main purpose is keeping people alive during the winter, we were at full capacity very quickly. The numbers, from what we’re seeing, are—were, at the beginning of the season, double what they were the previous year,” said Vaughn.
The new shelter location has 75 beds, about 15 more than at the previous location. Vaughn says that the new space has its ups and downs.
“This set-up is a little harder for employees to work, however, it—with having three people per room we’re able to move people are, you know, that might have some form of relationships or get along well. And I think it’s reduced behavior issues, with this model. But moving forward, if we’re going to do this right we have to find the building that fits Code Blue, not Code Blue jamming in to try and fit a building,” said Vaughn.
RISE Healthy Housing and Support Services opened a temporary year-round, 24/7 low-barrier shelter where Code Blue had been located for the past several seasons at 4 Adelphi Street.
RISE Executive Director Sybil Newell said with almost 40 beds, it has remained full since opening over the summer.
“I think that we expected to be full – it’s been a particularly difficult year for folks. I think that between RISE’s low-barrier shelter and the Code Blue, we’re able to provide service for folks in a variety of ways. Some people do better in a congregant setting, which is what we have at the low-barrier shelter, and some people are going to do better with a little more privacy, which is what Shelters of Saratoga have at the Code Blue shelter,” explained Newell.
Both organizations are working with City Hall to finish the years-long project of establishing a permanent, year-round shelter.
Vaughn says Republican Mayor-elect John Safford, whose campaign highlighted homelessness, has been in contact with advocates to carry the momentum of Democratic Mayor Ron Kim’s administration.
“I am very encouraged about the new mayor coming in. I am looking forward to working with all the city council members and to make sure that some of our thoughts and ideas are heard. And I think that’s critically important. We’ve been doing this work for 30 years in the city,” said Vaughn.
Kim had established a task force to recommend ideal locations for a permanent shelter, which it did in November. Mayor-elect Safford has said he plans on having the task force present the findings to the new city council in February.
But the final recommendations did not come without some concern. One member questioned the first choice for the shelter, a 4-acre plot two miles east of the city’s core, saying it might be inaccessible to financial and support hubs.
Newell, who is also enthusiastic about working with Safford, said purchasing a future location is the vital next step toward establishing the long-awaited shelter.
“I don’t it’s the optimal location, but given that it is Saratoga Springs and it’s going to be really difficult to find a location closer to downtown, especially with the thousand foot-buffer that was voted in. So, I think that finding a location and settling on a location and then making steps toward purchasing that property or getting site control in some way is going to be really important so that we can just have, you know, a place that we’re saying we’re gonna do this, and then we’ll be able to move forward with the next steps, the funding piece,” explained Newell.
Newell was referring to a hiccup in a previous attempt at a permanent shelter which resulted in an ordinance preventing any shelters from going up within 1,000 feet of a school, limiting the locations the mayor’s task force could chose from.
