BURRILLVILLE – A facility offering dwelling area for dozens of unhoused Rhode Islanders over the previous 12 months and a half will shut its doorways on Monday, June 30, in keeping with a resident who says she was knowledgeable of the plan this week.
Requested to adapt that the Tri-County Neighborhood Motion Company household campus at Zambarano Hospital is slated to shut as soon as a lease on the cottages used for the shelter runs out, an official from the Rhode Island Division of Housing stated an announcement will probably be issued on the matter.
The power, which opened in October of 2023, options area for round 50 individuals, and has reportedly served as dwelling quarters for a minimum of 25 youngsters in current months.
Keyara Kay-Mitchell and her two daughters, ages 1 and 14, are among the facility’s current occupants.
“I am absolutely heartbroken and terrified what the future holds,” said Kay-Mitchell, who noted she received news of the planned closing on Monday, April 21 from campus Director Ehren Hunt.
Situated inside three previously vacant structures on the sprawling Zambarano hospital grounds, the family shelter includes several small apartments in one building, and another with one-room emergency housing units, similar to dorm rooms. The third building holds a community room, where residents have access to a shared kitchen as well as counseling services.
The shelter, operated by the Johnston-based non-profit Tri-County, employs a staff of 14, with two people on site around the clock, as well as three case managers. Previously, the cottages had been used by Phoenix House for substance-abuse recovery for adolescents and teens, and also served as space for quarantine during the pandemic.
But the decision to locate such emergency housing units in Burrillville has been somewhat controversial from the start, with local leaders questioning if its clients would be best served in an area of the state with better access to services. Town Council President Donald Fox has been among those to express concern about costs, pointing to the difficulty of transporting students living on the campus back to their home districts from the state’s most northwest corner, as required under federal law.
Recently, the Burrillville Town Council and School Committee sent a joint letter to Rhode Island Division of Housing Program Growth Chief Benjamin Haynie noting that transportation prices for college students dwelling within the shelter have been totaling from $25,000 to $40,000 a month – an unsustainable expense for the small faculty district. The city obtained a $75,000 grant for the expense by way of the state’s Municipal Homelessness Assist Initiative, however faculty officers have famous that a few of the youngsters within the shelter additionally require particular schooling, a further price that sometimes exceeds $75,000 per pupil.
Supt. Michael Sollitto informed NRI NOW on Wednesday that the district’s estimated price for transportation of all homeless college students – each housed at Zambarano and elsewhere – is anticipated at round $325,000 for the present fiscal 12 months. Of the full, he stated about $250,000 is a direct results of transportation prices for Zambarano residents.
“Up to now, we’ve got not obtained any aid aside from the $75,000 from the state and the extra funds that have been insignificant when in comparison with the full price,” he stated, noting that the bills are break up between the sending and receiving districts, and that his figures solely account for Burrillville’s share. “We’ve got reached out to a number of state officers and state companies about this and even met with Governor McKee and Housing Secretary Goddard.”
Kay-Mitchell stated she was informed that the deliberate closing comes because of the ability’s lease not being renewed.
“There aren’t any plans for any households’ different placements at the moment,” she stated.
She believes a lot of the opposition to the ability has been based mostly on a misunderstanding of the inhabitants it serves, noting that she’s usually seen locals referred to the occupants as “outsiders.”
“I’m a long run resident of this city,” she stated, noting that her older baby has attended the Burrillville Faculty District for almost all of her educational profession.
A single mom, Kay-Mitchell said she suffers from a seizure disorder, and has no family support. She notes that it was only thanks to the Burrillville shelter, where she’s lived since last fall, that she was finally able to get testing and treatment for the issue, which prevents her from working or even driving a vehicle.
“I’m a townie,” Kay-Mitchell said, noting many of those currently living in the Burrillville shelter hold full time jobs. “These people are friends of your children, your cashiers, your lunch ladies, your gas attendants, your friends, and forgotten or dismissed family.”
“Not a single individual here from my knowledge uses substances nor has a problem with substances,” she added.
In discussion on social media, Fox noted that the shelter was always expected to be temporary.
For Kay-Mitchell, the problem is both local and part of a larger problem.
“I’ve been struggling with hidden homelessness for three years – been on housing lists for many years – and nothing and no one has helped until this shelter,” she said. “Having safe, affordable housing should not be a luxury, but it is.”
“I’m disgusted with this community, my state officials and our governor to smile in my face, to all of our faces, then strip these wonderful people of their jobs and of our only resource,” Kay-Mitchell said.
Asked to comment early Wednesday morning Emily Marshall, chief of information and public relations for the Rhode Island Department of Housing said a statement would be coming “shortly.” No information had been provided as of publication of this story.
Officials from Tri-County also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NRI NOW will update this story as more information becomes available.
