Worcester unveils winter shelter at old RMV, with beds where drivers once lined up
WORCESTER — Workers moved in and out of the former downtown Registry of Motor Vehicles services center Monday as they prepared for the building's opening as an emergency winter shelter Tuesday.
Late last month, the city announced it would use the former RMV service center at 611 Main St. as an emergency winter shelter for single, homeless adults.
The 60-bed shelter will be staffed by the South Middlesex Opportunity Council and provide showers, meals, support services and a security detail. It will be open 24 hours a day.
"We know there are a lot of people sleeping outside on the streets and winter is coming, even though yesterday didn't really feel like it," Susan Gentili, CEO of the organization, said. "This is going to be a really welcoming, safe and warm spot."
The RMV service center moved to the former Big Y supermarket at 50 Southwest Cutoff (Route 20) last year. The Main Street building has not been in use since the move.
While the shelter will help reduce the shortage of shelter beds the city faces, it will still be down by roughly over 130 beds going into the winter months.
The city and the South Middlesex Opportunity Council hosted a brief tour of the facility Monday. While signage from the building's days as a RMV remain, shelter beds have now been set up in the area where long lines would form to speak with RMV representatives.
On Monday, a few toiletries were placed on top of each bed.
The tentative name for the shelter, Restore Motivate Validate, carries the initials RMV.
A room will be set up to hand out meals to clients and another room will host an isolation wing for people who are sick.
Tania DiDuca, chief of staff for the South Middlesex Opportunity Council, said roughly 15 of the beds will be for women and 45 for men. She said that reflects the fact that typically more men are requesting shelter services in the city.
DiDuca said homeless residents will need to come to the shelter at around 6 p.m. for beds.
On occasions when there may be more people requesting beds than the shelter can provide, DiDuca said they will be redirected to the South Middlesex Opportunity Council shelter at 25 Queen St. that can host up to 120 beds if needed.
How many people in Worcester are experiencing homelessness?
The city was facing concerns from homeless service providers and advocates that it needed an emergency winter shelter as it faces a rising homeless population amid a statewide housing crisis.
According to data from the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, which a spokesperson for the city provided, the city saw a 70% increase in homeless individuals from 2021 to 2023. In the peak month of March 2023, 810 people were recorded as experiencing homelessness throughout the month.
In the coldest month, February, 318 single adults used an emergency shelter or stayed outside in the city. Based on historical trends, the housing alliance expects around a 14% increase in demand for shelter this winter compared to last winter, meaning as many as 363 single adults may require shelter on a peak night.
Shelter-bed capacity was 166 beds without the new Main Street shelter, leaving a 197-bed shortage. With the Main Street shelter, the shortage stands at 136.
City Manager Eric D. Batista acknowledged a gap between shelter-bed supply and demand.
"Opening (the Main Street shelter) shortens that gap, but there's still a gap; there's still a need in the city," Batista said. "That's why the important thing is, how do we figure out how do we get them housed, to temporary or permanent supportive housing."
Church shelter had been source of controversy
Last winter, Blessed Sacrament Church's Phelan Center on Pleasant Street hosted an emergency winter shelter after the city searched for a replacement for Hotel Grace, which lost its home when Ascension Church on Vernon Street was sold.
The Blessed Sacrament shelter was the source of controversy on the West Side over concerns about safety. Unlike in the area around Blessed Sacrament, Batista said many members of the homeless population already tend to spend their days downtown to use services, sit out in the Common or stay inside at the Worcester Public Library.
"We don't anticipate anything outside of the normal," Batista said. "Last year Blessed Sacrament provided some challenges because that neighborhood wasn't prepared or accustomed to having some of that population there. Here, we're accustomed to having that population with us."
Batista said Worcester police know the shelter is coming and the potential for more homeless people in the area.
DiDuca said the South Middlesex Opportunity Council has reached out to other service providers and the city to prioritize bringing in homeless residents who are living outside.
The Main Street shelter will be "low barrier," meaning there will not be barriers to entry such as a sobriety requirement.
Quick conversion from RMV to shelter
James Brooks, director of housing development and healthy homes at the Worcester Executive Office of Economic Development, said state and city agencies collaborated to put the shelter together in a relatively quick timespan for government planning. The building had to be repurposed with the wraparound RMV table removed and necessary wiring.
Batista added the building had to be set up to accommodate winter conditions.
Brooks said the city signed a lease for the property with the state Nov. 22. The state still owns the 611 Main St. property.
Batista said costs associated with the shelter totaled more than $1 million. The city requested that the state fund the shelter, but the city is using alternative funding resources like American Rescue Plan Act funds in the meantime.
Leah Bradley, executive director of the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, said she was happy to see the shelter, calling its origin a "special partnership" between the state, the city and agencies.
The lease begins Tuesday and will last until April 30.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester set to open shelter at former downtown RMV
