Houses of worship eyed for wintertime shelter

By Scott Merzbach
Staff Writer

Published on November 20, 2009

A warming place for homeless individuals could soon be established inside a building offered by a local church.

The Committee on Homelessness, working in conjunction with the town's Community Development Department and the Springfield-based Center for Human Development, is having conversations with representatives from several Amherst churches as a means of establishing a community safety center.

Reikka Simula, chairwoman of the committee, said churches are interested in hosting such a space.

The goal is to create a place where people can get out of cold, wet and snowy weather and have it ready within three weeks.

"We're very hopeful we can start something Dec. 1," said Community Development Director Roy Rosenblatt.

The committee, which has been meeting weekly because of the urgency its members see for helping the homeless, is interested in creating a warming space that could serve up to 50 unsheltered individuals who are believed to be living in or near Amherst.

The Center for Human Development, responding to a "request for quote" put out by the town, had initially offered to rent apartments or motel rooms that would serve a more limited number of individuals with temporary housing and other social services. But the committee asked for a shelter that could help out more people this winter, pointing to the deaths of half a dozen people in Amherst and Northampton last winter that members said may have been caused, in part, by the lack of housing and a warm place to be.

The community safety center would not be a shelter. Those who visit would not be allowed to sleep in the facility.

While the committee had considered the Bangs Community Center as an ideal site, this was ruled out as a permanent solution after Town Manager Larry Shaffer expressed discomfort in allowing use of the town building for that purpose. Committee Vice Chairwoman Hwei-Ling Greeney said one of Shaffer's concerns was that it could turn into a cot shelter - a problem, since the building lacks sprinklers.

"It would not be reasonable to ask social services staff to enforce the no-sleep guideline," Greeney said.

Rosenblatt said setting up a shelter is more complicated than getting a warming place ready because of building code requirements.

Kevin Noonan, a committee member and former director of the Open Pantry Community Services in Springfield, said he is not troubled by not getting a cot shelter done right away. "The main thing, the urgency here, is to get in a warm place," Noonan said.

In late October, Rosenblatt sent a letter to many of the houses of worship in Amherst. He wrote: "In light of the number of homeless individuals in Amherst, the town is exploring the possibility of finding a large space downtown to accommodate (them)."

Greeney said the committee members have since had discussions with the members and leaders at several churches, including the First Congregational Church on Main Street, the Immanuel Lutheran and United Universalist Society churches on North Pleasant Street and Grace Episcopal Church on Boltwood Avenue.

There would be no cost to the church, as the town would expect to cover expenses through money it has in an account from the so-called Waxman settlement.

Before the host church is identified, Simula said she would like to see the Bangs Center used as a temporary site. But the committee members last week voted down a further appeal to Shaffer for that route.

The town will not need to recruit volunteers to work at the community safety center, as CHD will be responsible for finding these people.

If all goes well with the warming place, Simula said she could envision expanding it to a cot shelter.

Committee member Eric Magazu agreed that the eventual goal should be to achieve a shelter.

<h4>Permanent housing</h4>

Meanwhile, plans to create permanent housing for homeless individuals and families are advancing.

Rosenblatt said he is determining whether there will be sufficient funding to purchase a property on North Pleasant Street and whether buildings should serve individuals exclusively, or be a mix of single-room occupancy units and space for families.

The project, being undertaken with the Interfaith Housing Corp. and the Valley Community Development Corp., could need as much as $600,000 in Community Preservation Act money to purchase the properties, located on North Pleasant Street between downtown and the University of Massachusetts.

These properties could sell for between $1.2 million and $1.6 million, with the total project cost over $4.6 million.