By July 1, Manchester plans to turn the Beech Street emergency shelter into a new shelter and engagement center that will remain open for at least another year.
The shelter has provided refuge to about 40 people evicted from a downtown encampment in January. City officials and residents said the location has successfully provided physical, legal, and mental health support during the past six months, making their case to continue their work in that location more permanently.
The city's Board of Mayor and Alderman voted Tuesday to extend the one-year lease of the Beech Street Shelter until June 2024. Manchester's Director of Homelessness Initiatives Adrienne Beloin said during the meeting that the proposal to keep the shelter open is a response to the “growing need to reduce criminality, increase community safety, and, most importantly, save lives.”
Inside the shelter, cots will be replaced with bunk beds donated by the community, and the city plans to provide 24-hour staffing to ensure people can stop in for support at any time of day. There will also be bathrooms, showers, storage space, and charging stations open during the day — essential services that some local residents who are unhoused have asked the mayor for in the past.
According to Beloin, Manchester is now home to at least 538 unhoused people, including those in transitional housing and shelters. Although the new engagement center will provide just 40 beds at night, it is expected to help at least 100 people on a daily basis.
“It is not just a drop-in center or just a daytime shelter,” said Beloin. “It is a service-enriched hub that establishes trust with some of the most vulnerable folks in the streets.”
The size of the shelter will also expand. Right now, the Beech Street Shelter uses 5,000 square feet for overnight stays; the plan approved by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen will expand its footprint to 14,000 square feet. The city’s homelessness initiatives office plans to create a handicapped-accessible sign station inspired by a West Coast recovery center to make people feel more welcome and build a sense of dignity.
The center will also have office spaces for community providers and case management services. It will offer peer support, housing navigation, mental health, substance programs, and employment resources, among other services.
There will also be an outdoor space for mobile clinic vans, which Beloin said would allow the city to accommodate warming and cooling needs depending on the weather.
Beloin said her office plans to measure the center’s impact on people's transition to permanent housing through an electronic system that communicates with a statewide homelessness database. She said that integration will allow the city to track data and facilitate grant funding requests.
Four aldermen voted against the shelter contract, including Alderman At-Large Joseph Kelly Levasseur, who said Mayor Joyce Craig wants to “build the Taj Mahal of engagement centers.” He argued that the center's $1.4 million budget is unclear. Alderman Pat Long also echoed those concerns.
“I can’t keep voting without a budget,” Long said.
(Beloin and Craig said the proposed funding would cover all of the shelter accommodations for a year.)
Craig called the Board to a non-public meeting for about five minutes to discuss that topic.
Alderboard Member Crissy Kantor, meanwhile, criticized Belolin’s approach to leading the center, saying more “tough love” is needed instead.
