The City of Saratoga Springs is looking to sell the building that’s temporarily housing a local nonprofit’s administrative offices. The sale is aimed to help fund homeless services in the city.
In May, leaders at RISE Housing and Support Services demanded that Saratoga Springs take concrete steps to fund the city’s only 24/7 low-barrier homeless shelter through 2026. The head of the nonprofit warned RISE would have to cease operations at the Adelphi Street facility without such a commitment.
RISE withdrew the threatened closure after Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran presented a Request for Proposals for a new shelter. But while a full-time commitment to RISE remains elusive, the city’s Public Works commissioner is now proposing to sell the building that houses RISE’s temporary administrative offices. Commissioner Chuck Marshall tells WAMC that selling the former Saratoga Senior Center building at 5 Williams Street, which RISE has been using as a temporary home during renovations, could help fund homelessness services more broadly in Saratoga Springs.
“What this does is this creates funding where there currently is no dedicated source of monies for whether it’s extending RISE through 2026 or aiding the county of a new facility,” Marshall said.
The RISE shelter on Adelphi Street, which opened in 2022, was pitched as a temporary solution as city leaders worked toward a more long-term answer. But thus far officials have been unable to settle on a new permanent location for a city shelter, even after receiving recommendations in 2024 from a homelessness task force.
On Monday, city leaders discussed the proposed 5 Williams Street sale at a city council pre-agenda meeting. And while officials were open-minded about the deal, there were questions about process and intended use of the funding.
“I’m trying to just get, for the lack of a better term, the process going to understand what everyone wants to see included in it and not just come forward with some contract or some type of agreement,” said Marshall.
City attorney Tony Izzo said the sale might not be as quick of a process as Marshall believes.
“But keep in mind the council will have a critical decision at one point because until the council can find that this property is no longer needed for a public purpose the process can’t go forward. If this property is needed for a public purpose, the municipality can’t sell it,” said Izzo.
Marshall said a 2024 appraisal of the property was approximately $1.5 million and the bid process could be structured to favor applicants who run critical services in the city.
Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran said it’s an interesting idea but he wants the funds to go toward constructing a permanent shelter.
“We did, a couple years ago, have conversations around the potential sale at Williams to facilitate the building of a shelter before the county plan was in play. So, for me, yeah makes sense to move this to do that. Do it on city property was the concept at the time with feedback that we got from the homeless task force. Just throwing it up for bid without that I wouldn’t want to do that,” said Moran.
In February, Saratoga County closed on a $3 million purchase of a 1.4-acre plot on Ballston Avenue on the city’s west side to permanently house the county’s state-mandated Code Blue shelter.
Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi took issue with Marshall’s suggestion that some of the sale’s proceeds go to support the county-funded shelter instead of a city facility.
“The point is we are not contributing to something that the county is working on that is the county’s responsibility. It is not the city’s responsibility; it is not in our charter. We have gone above and beyond creating a homeless shelter. We are not going to put aside this money to contribute to the county because that is absolutely not in the scope of what the city is supposed to be doing,” said Sanghvi.
Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll suggested the incoming Code Blue shelter, which is only in operation during the coldest months of the year, could also serve as a location for the city’s year-round shelter.
“My point is we could—Code Blue is five months, the rest of the year we’ll have a full-time shelter. The shelter with the county could be, potentially, a hybrid. And we would pay for our portion like we’re doing now with the Adelphi Street which we’re expecting to close,” said Coll.
“If they would let us do that I’d sign the contract today,” said Moran.
“That’s directionally where I think we should go,” said Coll.
RISE Executive Director Sybil Newell tells WAMC it's a positive sign the city is taking steps to create a funding source to support homeless services, but says it's too early to comment on a potential consolidation of shelters under one roof.
