Earlier this year, the state tore down a Cranston homeless shelter that served at least 100 people to make room for a new police headquarters. In a press release this month, Gov. Donald Carcieri '65 announced that the state will no longer use the Cranston site for the barracks, angering advocates for the homeless.
The state abandoned its plan to build the barracks at the site of Welcome Arnold, formerly Rhode Island's largest homeless shelter, to save money. The state will build smaller headquarters in Scituate, a town west of Providence, the governor said in a press release.
Carcieri said the Scituate headquarters will cost only $27 million as opposed to $63 million to build new headquarters in Cranston.
But the announcement has angered those involved in homelessness issues.
"No plan was put forth (by the state) for accommodating everyone (from Welcome Arnold) into a shelter," said Jim Ryczek, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless. In March about 10 Brown students, along with several homeless Rhode Islanders, protested Welcome Arnold's closing.
The state is trying to save money by providing inadequate shelter to the homeless, Ryczek said, calling the government's actions "very unfortunate."
In March, Noreen Shawcross, chief of housing and community development for the state, told The Herald that 100 visitors frequently made use of Welcome Arnold before it closed, but Ryczek estimated then that as many as 200 people used the shelter regularly.
Megan Smith '10, co-coordinator of Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere, said it was "disgusting" that the state "displaced so many people before (it) had beds for them to sleep in at night." Shawcross said though the state does not have a concrete plan for using the Cranston space, she hopes it will be used for permanent housing for the homeless. Welcome Arnold temporarily housed the homeless nightly.
"It's a great site for long-term housing," she said.
David "Doc" St. Germain, a former resident of Welcome Arnold, said it would be "fantastic to have permanent housing" at the former shelter's site, but expressed doubt that the administration would fund permanent housing there.
"They could say, 'We are going to build a luxury hotel for the homeless,' but if there's no support for it, what does it mean?" he said. St. Germain said he is "infuriated" by the governor's "intentional deception" in canceling the building of police headquarters in place of Welcome Arnold.
"The governor was so insistent on shutting Welcome down on that basis," he said. "The government is specifically trying to punish the homeless for being homeless."
Ryczek said though it's "great" that Shawcross is talking about permanent housing in Cranston, her proposal just shows the administration's "guilt."
As the weather gets colder, the government needs to immediately "serve the displaced," Ryczek said.
All the people who used to use Welcome Arnold frequently "have been relocated," Shawcross said, adding that it is difficult to provide an exact number of homeless individuals.
"People appear and disappear," she said. "There's a lot of movement."
Shawcross said the state has opened "a number of community-based shelters" with case managers who encourage people to use community health centers. About 37 people have received permanent housing, she said.
But Ryczek said since Welcome Arnold's closing, other shelters like Harrington Hall, also in Cranston, are "stressed" because of the influx of homeless people. Currently some people at Crossroads Rhode Island, a homeless services organization, sleep on cots, air mattresses and even blankets on the floor, he said.
"The men (at other shelters) are literally sleeping under tables," said St. Germain, who got a room at Crossroads due to a disability. "To this day, women are sleeping on the floor at Crossroads," St. Germain added.
Ryczek said the state has given $50,000 for Rosemary's Way, a temporary shelter for homeless women that opened in October and will close in March. But the funding has put only 20 beds in the shelter, he added.
The state "need(s) to open a system where people are housed more quickly," Ryczek said. He said the state should expand its current program, Operation First Step, which replaced Welcome Arnold "with half-capacity" community-based shelters, to accommodate more homeless people.
Ryczek said the state should also provide homeless families with "full-time motel vouchers." But since these vouchers are expensive, families should be moved quickly into shelters or market-based housing, he said.
Another solution is for the state to give more funding to programs like the Housing First Program, Ryczek said. The pilot program has provided 50 people who have been homeless for an average of seven-and-a-half years with apartments and case management services to connect them with medical aid and other community resources, he said.
The program, run by Riverwood Mental Health Services and the Mental Health Association of Rhode Island, has lowered the number of hospitalizations and incarcerations, thus reducing associated institution costs, Ryczek said.
Most importantly, the administration must involve the providers and community advocates in the planning process, Ryczek said. He added that the "hallmark of the (Carcieri) administration" is that it hasn't engaged the community in planning and decision-making.
The community providers "know what homeless people need the most," he said.
Elizabeth Ochs '07.5, one of the students who protested the closure of Welcome Arnold in March, said the state should build smaller, transitional housing where fewer residents are assigned to each case manager.
"At Welcome Arnold, there was one case manager for 200 people," she said. "Smaller, transitional housing is important (because) people get more respect and attention."
