Overflow shelter adding nightly capacity for homeless through winter

Dec. 1—ROCHESTER — Overflow shelter space for people experiencing homelessness has been secured as the nightly temperatures continue to dip.

"(It's) just in time," said Rudy Naul, senior shelter program manager for Catholic Charities. "November was a very busy month and, unfortunately, we turned away 102 people (that we know of), and this number doesn't include law enforcement referrals that we had to turn away due to capacity."

The Salvation Army has offered space in its social services center, 115 First Ave. NE, to shelter up to 20 people per night between Dec. 1 and March 31. The planned capacity is based on current staffing plans, Naul said.

The Rochester Community Warming Center, which is owned by Olmsted County and operated by Catholic Charities, has been at capacity since Nov. 1, turning away three to five people nightly.

The center, at 200 Fourth St. SE, has the capacity for 50 people.

The nearby former Mister Muffler site at the northeast corner of Third Avenue Southeast and Fourth Street

was initially eyed as a shelter overflow site,

with the city offering the building for the coldest winter months.

Naul said the building wasn't ideal.

"No matter how much we put heat in there, it's a garage with garage doors that rattle when the wind blows," he said.

The continued need led to a partnership between Catholic Charities and the Salvation Army, similar to a collaboration the Salvation Army had with The Landing MN, when the nonprofit sought to extend day center operations in 2020

prior to obtaining its own building.

Major Candace Voeller said The Salvation Army was happy to provide a space for the shelter overflow for the next four months. The only hurdle was finalizing approvals and insurance through the organization's headquarters, which reportedly came this week.

"There's currently a great need for emergency, overnight shelter in our community," Voeller and Naul in a joint statement issued Friday morning. "Especially with winter weather intensifying, it's incredibly important that we work to ensure the most vulnerable members of our community have a safe place to stay overnight."

It's not the first time the Salvation Army space has been used as an overnight shelter during cold months.

Before Olmsted County created the Fourth Street warming center in late 2019,

the Salvation Army routinely opened its doors when nighttime temperatures dipped below zero degrees.

In early 2019, the organization's space

became a temporary nightly shelter

as the number of people facing homelessness increased and the city and county sought alternatives to people staying in skyways overnight. Rochester, Olmsted County and Mayo Clinic split costs for keeping the doors open throughout most of March that year, and the shelter reportedly saw as many as 50 to 60 homeless residents a night during a three-week period, which reportedly overwhelmed the space.

This fall. Naul estimated using the former proposed site for overflow would cost $50,000 for three months. The anticipated expenses included sleeping mats and storage bins for use at the overflow site, as well as two staff members when the main site is full. Volunteers will be sought to provide added support.

Extending the shelter space for a fourth month will likely add to staff costs, which Naul said would also increase if capacity expands beyond 25 people a night.

Mayo Clinic is helping by covering $25,000 of the cost related to opening the added shelter space during the winter months.

Naul said the agreement between Catholic Charities and the Salvation Army also calls for the use of the Salvation Army van to shuttle people from the warming center to the overflow site on nights that people need to be relocated at 10 p.m. due to lack of sleeping space.

The Warming Center requires people to enter by 10 p.m., and the overflow site is expected to operate under the same conditions and will be activated when people remain in lane for a warming center space at 10 p.m.

The overflow site will be limited to providing shelter and sleeping space. Meals, showers and laundry facilities will not be provided when it's activated.

Additionally, only law enforcement referrals are expected to be considered for available space after 10 p.m. and the site will close at 7:30 a.m. each morning to allow for daily Salvation Army community services, which include provide daytime space, to continue.