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SALT LAKE CITY — Now with $9.25 million in state and federal money in hand, city and county officials can continue searching for solutions to homelessness in Utah.
The next step? Choosing a site for a new homeless shelter in Salt Lake City.
Mayor Jackie Biskupski told the Deseret News and KSL editorial boards Monday that the city will reconvene its site selection committee under the leadership of Gail Miller and former Mayor Palmer DePaulis, and work will begin in April.
"We will work diligently over the next few months on development of criteria for creating sites and then also look for a site in Salt Lake to begin development," Biskupski said.
It's an effort made possible after the Utah Legislature passed HB436, appropriating $27 million over three years to improve housing and homelessness in Utah.
City and county officials lobbied for the funding to shift from what Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams has called a "one size fits all" homeless system, to split up populations being currently served at The Road Home.
"We are serving close to 1,000 people down at The Road Home. That model needs to go away," Biskupski said.
Most of the money will be used to construct new "resource centers," Biskupski said, one serving families and others for single men and single women at scattered sites across the Wasatch Front. It's not yet clear whether one or two shelters will be required for single men and women.
The question lingers of whether The Road Home will continue to exist in the Rio Grande and Pioneer Park area.
"The Road Home right now is playing a role in making sure that we still are able to provide services," Biskupski said. "So it's not like we're going to shut that down right away. We're hoping to pull populations out of there as we develop our new resource centers."
Breaking up populations will "take time," she said, and the final decision around The Road Home will be made through the city's site evaluation committee.
"A lot of thought has to be put into this," Biskupski said. "What we end up doing down there will be a really big decision and a part of what happens with this site selection team."
And a "big win," the mayor said, to start breaking up The Road Home's population was this year when the Utah Legislature passed SB169, which will allow The Road Home's Midvale location to operate year-round rather than seasonally.
But as Midvale officials seek donations to keep the facility open throughout the year, the proposal has been met with a not-in-my-backyard mentality from residents who fear the shelter will act as a crime magnet.
Biskupski said, however, she's confident the Midvale shelter will show Utahns a better system to "get families back on their feet."
"The way we are creating this service model, I think Midvale will prove to the rest of the communities that there doesn't need to be a concern about Nimbyism, that this intensive care management process being developed by the county will serve Midvale really quite well," she said.
When Gov. Gary Herbert signed the bill appropriating the $9.25 million for homeless services last week, Miller was near tears as she thanked lawmakers for doing something "monumental" for the homeless. She also urged stakeholders to not stop there, saying it will take private sector investments to continue that momentum.
As more work continues around homelessness, Biskupski said she has also been meeting regularly with officials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In addition to conversations about economic development, the LDS Church seems committed to helping find homelessness solutions, she said.
"Part of what they really want to be at the table on is how we deal with homelessness," Biskupski said. "They want to play a role. They want to be partners in the solutions. They want to remain at the table. And that will continue."
The LDS Church, the mayor said, will also be on the site selection committee, and she will "look to them to help with some potential funding as we move forward with creating new resource centers."
"There may be property that the LDS Church owns that may be part of the discussion, but it's open to all dialogue," Biskupski said.
The church has been a longtime stakeholder in advancing solutions for homelessness.
