This article was published in the Times Union.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — On the first day RISE Healthy Housing and Support Services opened its 24/7 shelter on Adelphi Street for the unhoused, its 30 beds were full.
On the second day, RISE staff bought six more cots. And it was still not enough. RISE’s new shelter, which opened on June 12, has 18 people on a waiting list.
“It really highlights the need,” Executive Director Sybil Newell said. “There are so many more homeless than are visible.”
Many people have come from the Woodlawn Avenue parking garage, where about 20 people have been sleeping. They are also coming from the small patches of forest rimming the west side of the city. And last week, when the Times Union visited, those lucky enough to secure a bed there seemed content and settled into the industrial structure that used to house Saratoga County’s Code Blue winter shelter.
One man who lived the winter in the parking garage and refused to go to Code Blue because it was too crowded is happy to be staying at the RISE shelter.
“It’s much better,” he said with a wide smile.
The Code Blue’s intention is to keep people from dying outside in the cold. RISE’s shelter has a larger mandate. Open 365 days, 24 hours a day, the low-barrier shelter has amenities that Code Blue couldn’t fit because of its tightly packed rows of 61 cots. With the help of Bonacio Construction, the space now includes a laundry, a congregate area with a television and comfy couches, a new hot water system so everyone can get a warm shower, a larger dining area, lockers, air conditioning, cordoned-off bedding areas, a counseling office for staff and a fenced-in yard with picnic tables and a basketball court. It’s also newly painted in RISE’s sky blue.
But the new shelter is not issue-free. Neighbors continue to complain that police frequent the site. Pat Brundage, president of Winsupply whose heating and plumbing business is across the street, is upset that the residents are allowed to drink outside in the yard, adding it’s not good for customers or his staff.
“This isn’t working very well,” Brundage said. “Last Monday, we opened at 6 a.m. and found we had a little shooting up party behind our building. There were eight or 10 syringes on the loading dock. … It’s not great.”
Newell said allowing drinking and smoking, only outside, is part of the point of a low-barrier shelter. Nearly everyone is welcome as long as they are not a sex offender and do not have a history of violence. Residents must also go through a metal detector before entering and all weapons and illegal drugs are confiscated. She also said that being homeless is stressful and having that many people living together under one roof is also stressful.
“Police are here to keep the peace,” Newell said, showing off a panic button she wears around her neck to call police. “The police come and help us de-escalate the situation and take people out if they cannot de-escalate.”
But she added, “we are giving everyone a chance. That is our goal.”
Once fully staffed, the RISE shelter is meant to be a navigation center, connecting homeless adults with services. But until the shelter is fully staffed, that goal cannot be realized. Once they have hired counselors and social workers, RISE, which specializes in mental health and substance abuse services, expects to expand its services to help people find jobs, health services, social supports and permanent housing.
“We just want to get people a start and get them off the street,” Newell said. “We want to give them a place to be, give them a community. Once they have a roof over their heads, it gives them a lot of space to work on the next step.”
City Mayor Ron Kim is pleased with the new shelter, which he said his staff and the city’s Task Force on Homelessness worked to open.
“This is a testimony to how effective a simple shelter is,” Kim said on Monday. “Now they are trying to transition to the second step, not just shelter but more lasting transitional housing.”
Newell said the Adelphi Street building, in which Bonacio has waived two years of $7,000-a-month rent, is a Band-Aid. She looks forward to the task force delivering a plan for a permanent navigation center.
“This is good enough for now,” Newell said “It’s not adequate for the needs of the community long-term — especially since all of our beds are always full. We have 18 people on our waiting list and that is not counting people we know are in the woods and haven’t come in yet. We have an additional 20 people a day who come and take showers and use the laundry facility, eat their meals with us and go back out. There is more of a need.”
RISE also has a funding gap and is looking for financial donations as well as men’s clothing — especially socks, underwear and T-shirts. Newell said she is also seeking a donation of travel coffee mugs because the shelter uses hundreds of Styrofoam cups daily.
“We want to stop doing that,” Newell said.
The RISE shelter displaced Code Blue, run by Shelters of Saratoga. However, last week, Executive Director Duane Vaughn announced that Code Blue has found its 2023-2024 winter location at Grand Union Motel at 120 Broadway, just steps away from the RISE shelter. The owner of the motel, Steve Ethier, is working on a plan to renovate the motel into 58 multi-family residential units. While the approvals work through the city’s Planning Board, which could take years, Ethier said the motel offers an ideal location for the winter shelter.
“It helps out and it’s a big problem,” said Ethier who has given free rooms to people with no permanent home in the past. “I know the whole crew over there and you got to give back.”
Vaughn added the motel will provide more privacy for the guests, which is especially helpful to those who work.
“This is a good option to try,” Vaughn said. “There is a little more privacy. It’s hard to sleep in a room with 61 other people.”
The motel will also give Code Blue the ability to set up more beds, up to 80. This is vital, as Code Blue served a total of 300 individuals last winter and scrambled nightly to find overflow beds.
Kim said the city was not involved in the Code Blue plan, but code enforcement must review the plans to ensure it is safe and appropriate. He’s also happy that the garage is emptied out.
“We can’t have people living in the garage,” Kim said. “We had to do something and we did.”
Vaughn said that the collective work of many nonprofits was key.
“Reducing area homelessness is a collaborative effort,” he said. “We are better together. The agencies working to address homelessness are dedicated to the value they provide this community, and I’m proud of our collective impact.”