Here's how RI plans to help the homeless this winter and increase beds by 30%

PROVIDENCE − Pallet shelters, churches, nursing homes and a former shopping center.

Those are the ways the state plans to increase winter shelter capacity for the unhoused population this year, even as it faces roadblocks from local zoning rules in municipalities.

During a news conference on Friday with religious leaders and Gov. Dan McKee, Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor outlined much of the state's plan to increase the winter shelter capacity 30% above the number of cold-weather beds added last year, meaning an additional 318 beds will be available.

Providence or Pawtucket could become the site of 30 to 45 pallet shelters, which advocates called for last year, as an alternative to unappealing congregate shelters or expensive hotel beds, Pryor also said during the news conference.

Pallet shelters are one option, as they could be placed in Providence or Pawtucket. Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project Director Eric Hirsch has previously said that Providence Mayor Brett Smiley promised to find space and funding for pallet shelters, since the city doesn't run or own any facilities for people without housing, but never followed through on his promise.

The number of unhoused keeps going up: RI keeps adding shelter space for the homeless, but it's never enough.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence is increasing the number of shelter beds it is providing, putting 41 additional beds at its Emmanual House shelter in Providence, while the Harvest Community Church in Woonsocket is adding 22 beds.

An additional 24 motel beds will be made available in Washington County, administered by the WARM Center.

Former Narragansett Park Plaza could host 100 beds in East Providence

Many types of buildings that can be turned into makeshift shelter are being considered, including the former Narragansett Park Plaza in East Providence.

While negotiations are ongoing, the space could be turned into a "warming center" with space for 100 people. Pryor said talks are still underway with the property owner as well as East Providence Mayor Roberto DaSilva.

State seeks to buy former Charlesgate nursing home

The state is looking to buy the former Charlesgate nursing home, which it has already turned into a family shelter. An additional floor of the nursing home is currently being converted into family shelter, adding 48 new beds.

$50,000 to $75,000 municipal grants for "emergency hubs"

In addition to adding shelter beds and warming centers, the state will offer grants to municipalities to expand their current emergency warming or emergency shelter options, often in libraries or firehouses, to operate at night during cold snaps and storms.

The grants, of up to $75,000, would be intended to offset municipal costs associated with personnel and supplies for keeping facilities, like libraries, open overnight.

More than just books: Overdoses. Housing insecurity. Mental health crises. At the center of it all? The library.

More money being used to stave off evictions

Part of the winter plan includes an "ongoing investment" in legal counsel for people who face eviction and make 80% or less of the area median income.

That ranges between $57,350 for an individual to $81,900 for a family of four.

The programs offering the legal services are Rhode Island Legal Services, the Center For Justice and Direct Action for Rights and Equality.

'Housing problem solving' seen as a way to keep numbers from growing

An additional $1 million will be available for "housing problem solving." Pryor said Crossroads Rhode Island and its CEO, Karen Santilli, have been "leading the way" in the state.

Housing problem solving means doing anything possible to prevent a family from becoming homeless or shortening the length of time they are housing insecure.

Here's where it will start: RI to boost its homeless shelter options as winter approaches.

In an interview, Santilli said "housing problem solving" includes all kinds of help: money to pay off utility bills or a security deposit on an apartment, transportation or clothing for a job interview. Sometimes it means non-monetary things too, like acting as a mediator between family members.

"The idea is to slow down the inflow of people coming into the system and getting stuck in shelter or places not meant for human habitation," she said.

Steeply rising rents are one of the problem's primary causes

Most of the money Crossroads has spent on the program has gone to security deposits and rental assistances. Increasingly, people are being displaced as landlords drastically increase the rent and, with little savings, families have a hard time getting enough money together for a security deposit on a new apartment.

When people, often living paycheck to paycheck, lose their housing, it becomes easier lose the job entirely.

Other resources include paying for transportation in or out of state for people to live with family members, paying for car repairs when someone needs a vehicle to keep their job and paying utility bills for people who fell behind, moved into a new apartment and have to pay the balance before getting service again.

Among the families Crossroads has helped, 90% haven't experienced homelessness again. On average, the amount of help is $1,500 to $1,800, she said.

Crossroads has also been using private funds to deploy monetary assistance in new ways, like buying gift cards for grocery stores to ease the burden on someone who is hosting a couchsurfer.

Local zoning rules limit what state and providers can do

One of the major hurdles to finding spaces where shelters can be opened is local zoning rules that prohibit shelters from opening altogether or limit them to specific areas.

In Providence, shelter for the homeless is referred to as "transitional shelter" and limited to commercial zones, the downtown district and the light-industrial district, where all other forms of housing are explicitly banned. Even in spaces where it can go, it requires a special-use permit, which is somewhat discretionary.

Pryor said local zoning rules have made it "very difficult" to find or to set up sites for shelter housing, although in some communities all that's needed is a use permit.

"It's hard work and a complex subject," Pryor said.

Need for shelter keeps growing

While the state keeps increasing the number of shelter beds, the demand keeps rising.

With 1,661 people seeking shelter in Rhode Island's system and only 1,125 beds available, at least 536 people need shelter beds that do not exist,according to data provided by the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness. But not every bed available is instantly filled. As of Oct. 4, the number of people in the shelter queue was 632.

Read more about the growing demand for shelter from earlier this week.

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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: Pallet shelters for the homeless could be set up in RI this winter