With shelter space scarce, 55 people experiencing homelessness will move to Warwick Motel 6

Wheeler Cowperthwaite, The Providence Journal
·4 min read

With the Cranston Street Armory set to close on May 15, the state plans to move 55 people experiencing homelessness into the Motel 6 in Warwick.

In previous comments, state Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor said the state had been trying to reduce the number of people using the armory shelter to 100 by Monday, May 8.

In a Facebook post, Warwick Mayor Frank Picozzi wrote that the Gov. Dan McKee's office told him about the 55 people being moved to the Motel 6, in addition to the 40 people who have been living there since the fall. Picozzi said he met with McKee on Tuesday to discuss cost and that McKee was "very receptive to try to work out some type of reimbursement arrangement."

"I was told that for the new 55 rooms, first preference will be given to those that have been sheltered at the Cranston Street Armory," he wrote.

Picozzi identified Open Doors, a nonprofit agency founded in 2003 that helps formerly incarcerated people and those struggling with addiction, as the agency contracted by the state to help the people being moved into the motel.

More: What happens to those seeking shelter when Cranston Street Armory closes? What we know

The Motel 6 on Jefferson Boulevard in Warwick.
The Motel 6 on Jefferson Boulevard in Warwick.

Members of Warwick's police and fire departments, along with the mayor, met with Pryor last week to show that the motel has seen an increase in calls for service since last fall, and that adding more people "could lead to having additional personnel working on some shifts or days, which would be very expensive for the city but necessary for public safety," Picozzi wrote.

"This Warwick site represents one of the steps the Housing Department and our partners are taking to address homelessness in Rhode Island," Pryor said in a statement. "This location consists of 55 rooms. We are grateful to OpenDoors RI for stepping up to help Rhode Islanders who would otherwise be unsheltered. We thank the City of Warwick for continuing to work with us constructively and thoughtfully."

"We expect there will be a significant number of individuals at the armory who are referred to this Warwick location and other new sites," the statement continued. "There currently are approximately 100 people staying each evening at the armory, down from higher figures ranging from 150 to 200. We expect to share more updates as additional shelter capacity becomes available. In addition, we are in close communication with the coordinated entry system, which continues to make referrals to shelters with available beds."

Shelter space has been very hard to come by

Open Doors Co-Executive Director Nick Horton said the new beds should be open by Friday.

All the providers in the state, including Crossroads Rhode Island, Amos House, which runs the armory, and Emmanuel House, run by the Diocese of Providence, have "stepped up" to meet the growing shelter demand, but there are few physical spaces suitable for shelters, he said. Open Doors also runs shelters in Silver Lake and Pawtucket.

"We, and everyone else, have been searching for shelter locations since the pandemic hit," Horton said. "Three years have gone by and I believe there are five new stable locations."

The warming center at the Cranston Street Armory in Providence has reduced its hours to overnights, and the homeless people staying there often head to the adjacent Dexter Park during the day. Some neighbors aren't happy about that.
The warming center at the Cranston Street Armory in Providence has reduced its hours to overnights, and the homeless people staying there often head to the adjacent Dexter Park during the day. Some neighbors aren't happy about that.

The armory was an example of an imperfect space that filled an emergency need but was never meant to be housing, Horton said.

"Just the provision of a safe, secure, reliable bed – that's life-saving for many people, and it's a huge undertaking," he said.

Shelter staff say they will work to minimize problems

Open Doors Program Director Dina Bruce, who will be running the shelter, said she is aware of issues there, including alleged drug use, but accountability and safety are key for her.

"I know neighborhoods don't want shelters there, so we will try to minimize the nuisance issues," she said. "If someone has an issue, let's talk about it. Point them out, and we'll address it."

Staff will provide help with jobs and health care, including a strict policy of no drugs or alcohol, she said.

Warwick firefighters earned lots of overtime in 2022

It is unclear what additional cost the 40 people staying at the Motel 6 have generated in emergency calls, but firefighters the state's biggest cities are routinely the highest paid employees.

Warwick firefighters made up 59 of the top 100 earners in the city in 2022, propelled to the top of the list by overtime.

Overtime for Warwick firefighters represented 22% of their gross pay of $22.3 million, while overtime represented 7% of the police department's gross pay.

See our full breakdown of who made how much in the city, and how much of that was the police and fire departments.

Warwick's top earners: 27 Warwick employees topped $150k in 2022. Here are the city's top earners.

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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: Motel 6 in Warwick to house 55 people experiencing homelessness