Utah homelessness council allots $3M for emergency overflow in Salt Lake City

Lawmakers will review a $ 3 million funding plan approved by the Utah Homelessness Council.

(Rick Egan | Tribune file photo) Homeless people seek shelter under the freeway after being relocated from the Rio Grande area on Saturday, December 12, 2020. A new plan is for a location in the Ballpark neighborhood of Salt Lake City before next winter.

State officials plan to allocate $ 3 million to a plan to buy a detox center in Salt Lake City and convert it into an emergency spillway and day shelter for the homeless.

The Ballpark neighborhood building at 252 W. Brooklyn Ave. – currently owned by Volunteers of America Utah – could provide an additional 80 to 100 overflow beds by fall and winter 2022, according to the Utah Office of Homeless Services.

The Utah Homeless Council approved funding of the proposal during a Wednesday afternoon meeting, but the spending also has to be approved by a legislative advisory committee that is expected to review it next month. The money comes from the US $ 6 million sale of the former Road Home emergency shelter.

Officials hope this overflow space will help alleviate capacity shortages in the Salt Lake Valley’s three homeless resource centers. They have been relying on Band Aid solutions for additional accommodations since the closure of the old emergency shelter in downtown Road Home, which could accommodate 400 more people than the three new resource centers they replaced.

And officials on Wednesday emphasized the importance of finding a more permanent solution to keep people off the streets during the bitterly cold winter months.

“Since we’re talking about overflow, we’re really talking about a solution to keep people alive during the winter,” Tricia Davis, deputy director of the Homeless Services Bureau, said during the meeting.

Wayne Niederhauser, the state’s new homeless services coordinator, has previously argued that the underlying problem is a housing shortage that is keeping people stuck in the resource centers. Getting these people from shelters to shelter faster would likely take a lot of pressure off the resource centers, he said.

The Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness agrees that deeply affordable housing is “the greatest need for our community,” according to a letter from Rob Wesemann, the group’s co-chair.

“At the same time, we recognize the immediate need for flexible overflow beds in the development of residential projects,” he continued.

The coalition has identified the need for at least 300 more overflow beds to meet existing needs in the Salt Lake Valley area – and the detoxification facility could cover up to a third of that, according to Wesemann.

Under the new plan, the nonprofit Shelter the Homeless would buy the Brooklyn Avenue property and Volunteers of America would move their detox services to a larger facility in 2022, he wrote.

Niederhauser, who backed the plan during Wednesday’s session, said the building will have to be remodeled before it can be opened to provide overflow protection.

Tiffanie Price, a member of the state homeless council and founder of Axiom Properties, said she was concerned about the increase in camps in the planned overflow shelter area.

While the existing detox center has little impact on the surrounding community, she said “put the overflow protection in place”. [there] will put enormous pressure on a very small property in this neighborhood. “

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, who also sits on the council, responded that expanding the Downtown Ambassador program – which seeks to improve public safety without increasing law enforcement – could help respond to community complaints to respond about campers near the shelter. Among other things, the “ambassadors” help people affected by homelessness to gain access to accommodation and other services.

Over the past few winters, Salt Lake County city guides have taken emergency measures to ensure people don’t get stuck outside the resource centers because of lack of beds. Last year, Salt Lake City opened makeshift overflow accommodation at the Airport Inn Hotel, while Millcreek designated a former memorial maintenance facility as another makeshift shelter.

Officials and vendorsx have also relied on hotel and motel coupons to bridge the gap between available beds and demand.

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