Advocates Appeal to McKee to Provide 500 Permanent "Pallet Shelters" to Help the Unsheltered
Advocates Appeal to McKee to Provide 500 Permanent "Pallet Shelters" to Help the Unsheltered
Hirsch says that COVID increased the number of unsheltered and rental prices are exacerbating the problem.
He is Co-Chair of the state’s Homeless Management Information System Steering Committee.
Hirsch said the short-term and the long-term needs could be addressed in part by deploying hundreds of "pallet shelters."
"We're saying we need 500 of these rapidly deployable structures now for 500 people because that's what we're expecting very soon and if you know, if you look at the economic impact of COVID and the rising rents there could be a few hundred more beyond that," said Hirsch on GoLocal LIVE on Thursday.
The estimated cost is $7.5 million for the first year with the majority of those dollars being a one-time expense. Compare this to the $16.8 million a year, paid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to keep formerly homeless people in Rhode Island hotels.
Hirsch said the coalition is proposing locating the shelters in the state's Pastore Complex in Cranston.
He gave credit to McKee for a number of initiatives to help the homeless but said more needs to be done now.
"We appreciate the landlord incentive program that has been set up that is probably going to provide us with dozens of units, dozens of apartments not hundreds," said Hirsch.
Hirsch and other members of the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project (RIHAP), Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE), and Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) returned to the Governor’s Statehouse office on Thursday to demand that he address the unsheltered homelessness crisis. The State provided over 500 hotel and emergency winter shelter beds due to the COVID-19 crisis, but those who have occupied those beds are now being forced out as funding expires in the next few months. This is not only a problem in the winter. Those forced onto the street can die due to heat, not just the cold.
According to the state’s Homeless Management Information System, over the two weeks ending April 30th, 248 individuals have been reported as living outside in Rhode Island. This number will increase as people are forced to leave winter shelter. Those evicted from those beds have nowhere to go, as there are 947 individuals on waiting lists for individual and family shelters including 568 adults, and 379 individuals in 115 families with children.
Barbara Freitas, Head of the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project and someone who has experienced unsheltered homelessness herself said at a protest in April
“Most of those at this protest can go home tonight. Many others can’t. Unfortunately, for our friends, living outside has become a way of life. And it shouldn’t be. We are here to make sure that the Governor knows that and acts now to get roofs over people’s heads. We will not accept one more night of people forced to sleep outside!”