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Council, providers discuss shortage of weekend day shelter space and staffing
Summary
City staff and service providers discussed the lack of winter weekend day-space capacity for people experiencing homelessness, limitations of potential city-owned spaces, and ongoing efforts with Good Samaritan Haven and state partners to identify and staff suitable weekday and weekend locations.
City staff and local service providers told the Montpelier City Council they are continuing to search for accessible, staffed weekend day-space for people who need indoor shelter during winter, but no immediate solution was available.
Kelly (city staff) briefed the council on a request to review available daytime spaces, particularly for weekends. She said the city provides an overnight shelter at Country Club Road staffed by Good Samaritan Haven and has discussed expanding day services at that location, but the site is not ideal and would require a service provider and staffing capacity to operate on weekends. Good Samaritan Haven representative Julie said the organization and city have explored properties and are “still in the process” of finding a dedicated weekend space; she noted some potential properties are not ADA-accessible or appropriately configured.
Speakers at the meeting urged accountability for previously pledged seven-day coverage. Steve (commenter) said he believed Good Samaritan was under contract for seven-day coverage tied to ARPA funding and state support and urged transparency on expenditures and reporting. Kelly said little of the ARPA funding had yet been spent because of challenges lining up space and staffing; she said the city is convening service providers to explore cobbling together a solution.
Recreation and outreach workers told the council they and volunteer teams have felt the pinch of inadequate indoor locations for outreach and coordination, and called for a rapid shift to secure weekend options while providers continue negotiating longer-term arrangements with state and private partners.
