The Cranston Street Armory shelter closes at the end of April, and the state is scrambling
PROVIDENCE − The Cranston Street Armory in Providence should transition back into an empty building by the end of April while the state continues to look for additional shelter spaces, state leaders told a room full of West End and South Providence residents Thursday night.
The "warming station" at the armory, run by the nonprofit Amos House, was supposed to stop operations by April 15 when it opened at the beginning of December 2022. That exit date has been pushed to the end of April, Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor said.
Originally opened with 50 cots, the armory's capacity was quickly expanded, Amos House Executive Director Eileen Hayes said to a crowd in the cafeteria of the West Broadway Middle School, and the shelter started housing 200 people a night.
Hayes said the armory, built in 1907, is no place for people to be in the summer, especially because it cannot easily be used as a cooling space.
What happens to people after the Cranston Street Armory is closed?
The state is working to open new shelters across the state, with an eye toward those with air conditioning. New shelters have opened in Pawtucket and Newport, Pryor said.
"We've identified dozens of possible locations for possible shelters, as well as centers that can be cooled into warmer months," he said.
Pryor said his team is working to identify locations across the state that can be used as shelters and cooling stations, and taking suggestions from politicians and members of the public.
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Rhode Island Housing has also put out a "request for information" for plots of land, buildings and everything in between that can be used to house people, or places where temporary pallet shelters or tiny houses can be placed.
"The big message here is that we are fanning out across the state, contacting anyone we know, and getting the job done, but we do need help," Pryor said.
A big shelter with big needs
Surrounding agencies took to just dropping people at the armory. In the first week, two octogenarians, one with stage 4 cancer, were dropped off at the center and slept on cots for a month until they could be placed into an assisted living facility, while many other people were dropped off at the shelter by area hospitals.
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Five people were treated for frostbite, four went through medical detox at the armory because they were undocumented and couldn't get beds elsewhere. Another 15 were sent to detox programs, and 15 people have been sent to assisted living facilities.
"It has brought to one place all the ways that our systems have failed many of the folks who don't have a voice," Hayes said.
What are the future plans for the Cranston Street Armory?
The state has hired a Philadelphia developer, Scout Ltd., to come up with a plan to reopen the armory, which the state has spent decades trying to find a use for.
Here's what a consultant thinks:What's future of the Cranston Street Armory?
State Department of Administration Director James Thorsen said Scout presented an "exciting plan" in December, which was late in the current budget process, and that the state is in negotiations with the developer, but he would not take questions or say anything else until May.
Sen. Sam Bell, D-Providence, said getting the Scout proposal funded this budget year is incredibly important to keep the project from being derailed.
South End residents turn out to complain about unhoused people
Allowing 40 minutes for questions and answers, many of the people who lined up to speak were from the neighboring South Providence neighborhood complaining about the unhoused, the concentration of low-income people on Broad Street and the Crossroads "Tower."
Others questioned Pryor about Bell's report on the estimated $1 billion in federal low-income housing tax credits the state has squandered.
Robert Oliveira, who had been involved in attempts to block Gov. Dan McKee's eviction of unhoused protesters in tents at the State House, said he did not hear enough from Pryor about addiction and mental illness, especially as worries about a new drug, "tranq," are on the horizon.
"We need more agencies, vendors, doing this kind of work, connecting our clients and vulnerable Rhode Islanders with services," Pryor said.
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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence Homeless shelter in armory closes in April, solutions needed
