CBJ to purchase shelter to help with housing homeless during Covid

[Emily Ferry]

Good evening,

For those of you who are on the Flats Families Facebook page you may have heard that the CBJ is looking to use some of its Covid Relief funds to purchase a building to use as a shelter to help house people who are homeless while we are in a time of social distancing (the JACC has been used for this purpose for the past six months.)

As the contact for the Downtown Neighborhood Association listed in CBJ's files, staff has reached out to me and other neighborhood association contacts to participate in a conversation about potential sites, including the Bill Ray Center. 

The next conversation is at 11 on Thursday. I can't make it. Would anyone be interested in participating in the conversation, now and into the future? I would hope that whoever is interested would take into account the interests of those who have homes downtown... as well as those who don't have homes at all. 

From what I've learned about the topic over the past week, temporary shelters do little to solve the problem of homelessness. Investing in the long term plan put together by service providers that involves a new Glory Hall building in the valley and more opportunities for rapid rehousing may be a better solution. The Covid relief funds are only available through the end of December, and it's questionable whether they could be used for new construction. However, there are other creative ideas, like using the funds to purchase the old Glory Hall, giving the org a financial boost so it can get going on the new building. If the city does proceed with purchasing a building for temporary housing in the name of people who are experiencing homelessness, what is the plan for longer-term use? How will that population benefit?

Thanks again for letting me know if you would like to attend the meeting on Thursday.

Take care,

- Emily

907 723-6599