Some non-profit homeless shelters in Rhode Island are considering the purchase of motels and hotels to accelerate efforts to develop more short-term and permanent affordable housing, according to a prominent industry executive.
Russ Partridge, longtime executive director of the WARM Center in Westerly and Welcome House in Wakefield, said that with grants and state funds, shelters are able to consider purchasing facilities, many of which are already being used as seasonal shelters for the homeless.
When motels close for the season, some are converted to short-term housing for the homeless. The result, Patridge said, has been a considerable reduction in individuals living on the streets, He said in Westerly, this season, five individuals have been living in tents, the same number as last year, but four times less than in 2021.
Across the country, cities have moved large numbers of homeless who had been sheltered in large barrack-like conditions – breeding grounds for disease, especially during the pandemic – to short-term motel rentals. Those rentals, published stories said, provide the homeless with more privacy, health protection, and dignity.
Now, Partridge said, many non-profit shelters are considering purchasing motels and hotels, attacking what many consider an affordable housing crisis. According to Medline Medicine, lack of affordable housing is among the leading causes of homelessness.
Rents and housing costs across Rhode Island have been rising rapidly, according to Housing Works RI and Realtor groups, with housing inventory, particularly rentals, declining.
Many communities, and the state, continue to explore ways to provide more affordable housing, with few communities meeting the state’s minimum requirement that 10 percent of housing should be characterized as affordable.
Affordable, according to Housing Works, means individuals and families do not spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing-related costs, including rent or mortgage and utilities.
By turning to motels and hotels, Partridge said, rather than having to build from the ground up, the facilities can be converted to short and permanent housing. Zoning, he said, is usually not an issue.
Partridge said he welcomes any motel or hotel owners looking to sell their properties in Southern Rhode Island to contact him at the WARM Center.
