Watertown's Main Avenue shelter to stay open, with no closing date in view
Dec. 28—WATERTOWN — The temporary shelter on Watertown's Main Avenue will likely stay open indefinitely as officials continue to search for solutions to the county's housing shortage.
Legislator Anthony J. Doldo, who represents the northwest part of the city where the shelter is and chairs the county's Health and Human Services Committee, said Tuesday that there are no immediate plans to close the shelter.
Officials last week said the plan was to start closing the temporary shelter this week, once the Christmas weekend storm was over and temperatures began to rise again. But Mr. Doldo said that's likely not possible, with more than 20 people still using the shelter on a daily basis.
"We're working on a plan here," he said. "Whether it stays open longer or doesn't, there are a lot of factors here, and that's the problem."
Mr. Doldo said there's some difference of opinion among county officials and policymakers on how to address homelessness and housing insecurity.
He is unwilling to close down the shelter until a comparable solution has been found for its residents.
"Whether it's now or next week or next year, whenever it is, it's a moving target," he said. "We're allowing services to communicate with people, move them on to other things."
And people have been helped. One of the residents interviewed by the Times when the shelter first opened has been placed at the High Street apartment complex that recently reopened, as have many other people who stayed at the shelter when it first opened mid-November after a winter storm hit the north country. Many people are in contact with local agencies and nonprofit groups to connect with services.
Mr. Doldo said they are highly unlikely to be able to find care for every single person using the temporary shelter; some people simply don't want to accept services or assistance beyond what the shelter offers. But many people do, and Mr. Doldo said the shelter has provided a chance to earn some trust among the homeless population staying there.
Mr. Doldo said more open housing units are needed to house the people at the temporary shelter.
"We're still working with services, we're still struggling with some things to make it better, we don't want to leave the residents in there any longer than we have to, but housing is definitely an issue," he said.
More housing projects are in the works for Jefferson County. Pending more staff, Transitional Living Services is ready to open an 18-bed short-term housing facility on Pine Street early next year, and state funding for permanent housing construction has started the long process of building more facilities.
But those all take time, and Mr. Doldo said the Main Avenue shelter will remain open as it is needed.
