MONTPELIER — The former Elks Lodge on Country Club Road is the front-runner in the search for suitable space for an emergency overnight “overflow” shelter in the Capital City this winter.
Though no agreement has yet been reached, members of the city’s homelessness task force are cautiously optimistic ongoing “negotiations” between the city and Good Samaritan Haven will yield an agreement that helps solve a looming problem.
It’s still summer, but winter is eventually coming and task force members agreed this week there are hopeful signs they won’t be faced with another eleventh-hour scramble to find funding, staff and space for an emergency overnight shelter when temperatures start to drop.
That was the case last year when it was deep in November before plans to use Christ Church finally came together and early December before the overflow shelter actually opened in the historic State Street structure.
Though a consultant’s flagged the recreation center on Barre Street as a possible location for an emergency shelter, Meredith Warner, of Good Samaritan Haven, told task force members it wasn’t considered a viable option this year.
“That’s not on the table right now,” she said.
The potential use of the recreation center provoked mixed reactions and some questions about improvements that might be needed to allow the building to be designated as an emergency shelter.
Warner said the focus has since shifted to the building that was the decades-long home of the Montpelier Elks Lodge. The city purchased the Country Club Road building and its accompanying 138 acres — much of it a former golf course — for $3 million last year.
Long-term plans for the property involve a mix of housing and recreation, but the presence of the building with some currently available space has emerged as a possible option — one, Warner said, is being discussed.
Warner said it was premature to make any predictions.
“The talks are active and nothing is settled,” she stressed.
Warner said Good Samaritan Haven is confident the building could quickly be converted for use as an emergency overnight shelter and there are no plans for round-the-clock alternative at that location.
While Good Samaritan Haven has offered to operate the overnight shelter, securing state funding would require addressing other issues Warner said should be the subject of a community conversation.
The state grant the funded the shelter at Christ Church last winter required a plan for round-the-clock winter warming options. Warner said designating day-time warming options would be necessary. She said addressing transportation should also be discussed given the relatively isolated nature of the old Elks lodge.
Warner said coming up with a plan to provide meals to those who use the shelter should also be discussed and aren’t part of Good Samaritan Haven’s negotiations with the city.
Ken Russell, chair of the task force and executive Director of Another Way, said conversations with respect to day-time shelter, transportation and meals have already started.
“I know that people are looking at all of this,” he said.
Russell and other task force members said they were encouraged by what they described as an earlier than usual focus on finding a solution to a seasonal problem.
“We all want the same thing,” Russell said.
One wild card, Warner said, is Montpelier’s flood-ravaged downtown — where most businesses have yet to reopen, some won’t — churches are at least temporarily out of commission and the Kellogg-Hubbard Library has reverted to curbside service and outdoor activities.
“Even if overnight shelter is solved, there is the outstanding issues around bathroom access, electricity access and the library being closed that are still hanging out there,” Warner said.
Task force member Nat Frothingham agreed.
“We have a downtown that’s still bailing out, still reconstituting itself, still trying to figure out whether shops can reopen,” he said, noting while local businesses don’t provide “direct services,” their open doors are a form of support to those in need.
