Ongoing talks to keep emergency homeless shelter in Worcester open through June

WORCESTER — The city manager is considering whether to keep the Main Street emergency homeless shelter open through June, beyond the initial closing date set for the end of April.

Located at the former Registry of Motor Vehicles at 611 Main St., the shelter opened in mid-December as temporary winter accommodations operated by the Southern Middlesex Opportunity Council.

Thomas Matthews, spokesman for the city manager, said Tuesday that discussions regarding an extension to June are ongoing "but nothing has been confirmed yet."

Jane Lane, a spokesperson for SMOC, said that a date is not decided and the extension could potentially go as far as June 30.

The shelter provides 60 beds, 45 for men and 15 for women.

Brian Marvie of SMOC, program manager at the shelter, reiterated that discussions are still happening and said he suspected that the issue was a question of funding more than anything else. There was an allotted budget for operating the shelter through April, and an extension would require a new budget.

Marvie stated that more shelters mean additional access points to necessary resources and added the RMV shelter has demonstrated positive results since opening in December, estimating that between 20 and 25 people have been put on the path to housing.

"People are getting housed and the city is seeing that and wants to keep those resources open," he said.

Getting people off the street is a process, said Marvie, and the goal of the extension is to provide more time to help guests complete that. "If they're leaving (the shelter) and not going back to the streets, that's a success," he said.

The shelter was the center of a demonstration earlier this year by activists protesting the lack of available shelter space in the city and law enforcement's treatment of homeless encampments.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: City leaders discuss keeping homeless shelter open through June