Housing and homelessness nonprofits urge increased support as service demand grows

Several South Kingstown presenters asked the council for funds to sustain shelter and housing-support services that they said are facing growing demand.

Jessica Maui, executive director of the Welcome House of South County, requested $25,000 (up from $10,000 last year) to support emergency shelter operations, foundation repairs to the facility and regional homelessness-response work. Maui said the Welcome House provides emergency shelter for about 20 people per night, sheltered 80 individuals last year and diverted roughly 130 people from experiencing homelessness in South Kingstown through prevention and housing-stabilization work.

Laura Lee Costello, executive director of the South Kingstown Housing Authority and SKHA Services & Development Corp., requested $20,000 to continue on-site wraparound services. Costello said the housing authority manages 70 public housing units and administers about 100 housing choice vouchers; she noted the authority recently secured approximately $850,000 in federal funding to develop a community center tied to onsite services.

Michelle Leage of the Domestic Violence Resource Center asked for $15,000 to support hotline, drop-in center, law-enforcement advocacy and residential programs; she reported the center served 268 clients in the past year, a 33% increase compared with two years earlier, and that roughly 19% of clients who supplied residence information identified as South Kingstown residents.

Presenters urged council members to consider the relative leverage of small town grants for operations and emergency needs; town staff and council will make allocation decisions during the March 18 preliminary budget adoption and subsequent public hearings.

No formal awards were made at the workshop.