Some six weeks ago, Russ Partridge, executive director of the WARM Center, a homeless shelter in Washington County, was hopeful a new 12-family shelter would open near the University of Rhode Island campus in West Kingston. Six weeks later, Patridge is still waiting, still hopeful, and the building remains shuttered.
That State Properties Committee meeting in late November was pushed off to mid-December; the building, owned by the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities & Hospitals, was being renovated. Now, Partridge says there’s some issue with the fire alarm and sprinkler system that he hopes will be resolved within the next few days.
“We’re waiting for the final word,” Partridge says. “We’re not surprised they found trouble with it (the building). Everybody is working in the same direction … it just takes time.”
For the families, time is not on their side. It’s January, and the harsh winter weather means cold temperatures, ice, and snow.
For now, Partridge says, the families are living in motel rooms that the WARM Center uses for overflow from the shelters it operates in Westerly and Wakefield.
Partridge works hard to keep the homeless off the street, and he says for now, he’s been pretty successful. “Upwards of 150 people are in WARM Center housing,” he says. Just a few, mostly by choice, are on the streets, Partridge says.
The West Kingston family shelter is another option for what officials concede is a growing homeless population in Rhode Island and nationwide.
But it’s only temporary when it opens, although Patridge hopes it can be extended. The lease – the WARM Center will administer the building for the Department of Housing, which is leasing the building from Behavioral Health, runs until April.
“We’re hoping to negotiate a longer lease,” Partridge says. “Their plan is for the building to revert back to a congregate group home for people with developmental disabilities.”
The building, which is on West Independence Way in West Kingston, was last used by Behavioral Health as a group home for developmentally disabled individuals recovering from COVID-19 and before that in emergency situations.
