This article was originally published in the Saratogian.
At a special City Council meeting earlier this week, $387,000 was awarded to RISE Housing and Support to allow it to continue its work operating its temporary low-barrier shelter on Adelphi Street into the new year.
A collaboration between RISE, Julie and Sonny Bonacio of Bonacio Construction & Development, and former Saratoga Spring Mayor Meg Kelly, it was an interim solution that was set to operate alongside Mayor Ron Kim’s homelessness task force as they developed a more long-term answer to the increased homelessness and unhoused population in the city.
Operating in the former Code Blue building on Adelphi Street, though NOT intended to replace Code Blue, the RISE shelter is open 24/7 to provide assistance and housing. While it was intended to only operate through the end of 2023, according to its website “if a permanent low-barrier shelter is not opened before next winter, the Adelphi Street Shelter will continue to be operational, providing additional, crucial resources to the community.”
At the City Council meeting a contract for a one-year extension was signed with RISE for the services provided at the Adelphi Street Shelter.
“RISE is very pleased that the City Council has voted to renew the funding for the operation of the low-barrier shelter,” said Sybil Newell, executive director of RISE Housing and Support Services. “With a wait list of more than 50 individuals, we know we can’t just close while we wait for a permanent solution.
“We continue to work with the City and County, as well as our partner agencies to help our shelter guests get back on their feet, and find pathways out of shelter and into permanent housing.”
Kim pointed out that in August a meeting was held with the neighborhood because of a commitment to check in with them on a quarterly basis not only with the residents but with the businesses. While there were concerns Kim said were addressed, one of the things that the neighborhood said universally is that they had fewer complaints than when the code blue shelter was there.
“RISE has risen to the occasion and has given this community an excellent facility,” Kim said at the meeting. “They’ve done this in a way that I believe has added to the area there and I want to complement them. I am very happy to move this contract forward and am very happy to sign it if approved.
The extension passed unanimously.
“Again, incredible services that these folks (RISE) have been bringing to us,” Commissioner of Accounts Dillon Moran said at the meeting. “There were 700 news stories about homeless people and the shelter, and there have been zero about the work that this council has done in collaboration with Julie and Sonny Bonacio and the folks at RISE.
“We are lucky to have citizens that care so much about our community and fortunate to have an organization like RISE providing such services.”
“I think RISE has been incredible in the services they have provided,” Commissioner of Finance Minita Sanghvi said at the meeting. “It’s a real need in our community as well as not just in our community but in our county. I wish that in the new year, we can work with the county to come up with more long-term solutions regarding the homeless population and unhoused population.”
For more information about the shelter itself, visit Adelphi Street Shelter