Manchester homelessness director discusses plans for 24-hour emergency shelters
YWCA's Tirrell House, city-owned shelter set to open after encampment cleared
YWCA's Tirrell House, city-owned shelter set to open after encampment cleared
YWCA's Tirrell House, city-owned shelter set to open after encampment cleared
It's been nearly two weeks since the homeless encampment in downtown Manchester was cleared out, and now the city is working to open two 24-hour emergency shelters to get people off the streets and out of the cold.
>> Related: Removal of homeless encampment in Manchester begins
But the city's director of homelessness initiatives, Adrienne Beloin, said this is just the first step.
“It's just one of many things that's on our list of things that we want to tackle as far as homelessness initiatives,” Beloin said. “This is not the solution. It's not the answer for everyone who's out there and needs a safe place to be."
The YCWA will oversee the re-opening of the Tirrell House, which will provide 14-16 beds for women. The other shelter will be run by the city, with 40 beds available for both men and women.
Beloin said they're also working to help families.
Right now, about 75 families without homes are living in hotels, thanks to federal funding from the state. But that money will run out in June.
“There's a big push right now with southern New Hampshire services and people working collaboratively to focus on those folks to figure out solutions for them on the other side of this hotel,” Beloin said.
“That's the key thing right now is to have as many organizations and agencies as we can focusing on the situation,” Bill Sherry, chief operating officer of Granite United Way, said.
Sherry said they also have a number of resources for people experiencing homelessness, or who are struggling in other ways.
“For people that are suffering or experiencing challenges, the best thing to do for them in the short term is to call 2-1-1 and we can try to refer them to services,” Sherry said.
Once the city-run 24-hour shelter opens up, operations at the Cashin Center, which has been used as a temporary warming station, will be moved there.
Beloin said that the 24-hour shelter will probably be open until April, and they're hoping to keep the Tirrell House open on a more permanent basis.
"We're not releasing any direct time and date on that yet because we want to make sure when we tell people, people really understand the accurate information," Beloin said. "So I'm poised to kind of give that information out when we're ready to do it. But right now, behind the scenes, we're in those spaces, we're setting them up."
She said the ultimate goal is affordable housing.
"But obviously, opening more emergency shelter beds for youth, for families, for individuals, this is all on the wish list of things that we need to do," Beloin said. "And obviously having the affordable housing and the deeply subsidized housing to support those groups as well."
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