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Council hears plan to expand winter shelter capacity and discuss HOPWA spending
Summary
City staff explained amendments to fund operations that allowed OpenTable Ministries to open a relocated shelter and to provide 20 nightly beds through mid‑March; staff also described streamlined documentation and coordination among providers and a planned new family shelter in December. Community members urged better HOPWA fund use and capacity-building with nonprofit partners.
The council's community safety discussion centered on winter shelter capacity, contract amendments with OpenTable Ministries, and how the city is using federal and local funds to expand safe, warm spaces.
Ryan Smith, director of Community Safety, described an amendment that reallocated roughly $79,000 left over from a prior contract to administrative costs so OpenTable Ministries could complete inspections and open a new shelter site. "We did the amendment that was basically just moving money from the shelter side to a little bit more of the admin side... so the shelter could open on time," Smith said, and the relocated shelter opened the past weekend to offer 20 additional beds nightly during the cold months.
Contract manager Colin Davis explained the operational change: traditionally "white flag" shelter activations were triggered by temperatures at or below freezing (32°F) or 35°F with precipitation, but this year's contract provides the 20 extra beds every night from mid-November through mid-March (not limited to white-flag nights) to improve staffing and utilization. Davis said the city has also increased coordination among providers, added overnight coordination and expanded partnerships (including Families Moving Forward and Urban Ministries) to fill beds more consistently. He told the council the city expects the approach to increase utilization and reduce empty beds on cold nights.
Separately, Dr. Haley Cunningham, co-chair of the Coalition to End the HIV Epidemic in Durham, urged greater transparency and collaboration around HOPWA funds that had been withheld from a request for proposals. "It didn't feel right to say that community organizations lack capacity when it hasn't been used previously," Cunningham said, asking the city to meet with community partners to build capacity and avoid a single entry point through county DSS for HOPWA administration. City Manager Ferguson acknowledged the concern, said staff is "very interested in continuing dialogue with community partners," and confirmed staff had set up a meeting to discuss capacity-building.
City staff also said a new family shelter will open in December and is expected to provide up to 50 additional family spaces on the coldest nights, while the coordinated approach aims to reduce the roughly 50 families and 150 single adults currently on shelter wait lists. Councilmembers asked about the city's temperature trigger for family shelter activations and whether the community should consider raising thresholds to protect children; staff said they would look into it.
The council did not take a separate formal vote on contract language in this meeting; staff said the changes had been implemented to permit the shelter opening and to streamline reporting requirements to reduce administrative burden on providers.
