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Residents urge council to expand shelter capacity and allow nonprofits to repurpose vacant buildings
Summary
Public commenters described stretched warming‑center capacity and proposed a city process to allow nonprofits to apply for vacant buildings for transitional housing and services; Laura Porter offered to pursue grants and partnerships and asked the council to allow nonprofit proposals without using city operating funds.
During the public‑comment period, Mindy Knapp of the Midwestern Humanitarian Center described overcrowded temporary warming arrangements at the police station, saying capacity limits and rules (limited chairs, restrictions on eating and restroom use) left many people without adequate shelter during cold weather. "We have to work together as a society," she told the council, asking for solutions to provide warm shelter, food and rest for people on the streets.
Laura Porter, founder of a registered nonprofit, urged the council to open a formal process to allow nonprofits to apply for vacant city or county properties (she cited examples including the old public library, the former Eagles building, Cottage Hospital spaces, Hawthorne Court and Mulberry Street properties) under low‑cost transfer or long‑term lease terms so organizations can create transitional housing, youth services and resource hubs without calling on city operating funds. Porter said her group is collecting resident signatures to support review of these properties and requested that the council take a first step by allowing nonprofits to submit adaptive‑reuse proposals.
