I support Willand Warming Center as homelessness increases

As the Willand Warming Center approaches the end of its very successful fourth season, public discourse has again turned to the plight of the center itself.

The Willand Warming Center, located in Somersworth, was purchased by the City of Dover in 2020 using CARES Act funding. And while Dover had originally signaled their intention to sell the Somersworth property after that first season, public pressure has kept the warming center open at 30 Willand Drive for four consecutive seasons now. The warming center was operated this season by Karlee’s Home Team and like previous years, was paid for by a mix of funds from the cities of Dover, Rochester, and Somersworth, as well as Strafford County.

There have been particularly strong showings of support for the warming center at the most recent Dover, Somersworth, and Rochester City Council meetings. I’ve also noticed a trend in the various internet comments sections: compassion is winning. Tri-City leadership should listen to the majority of their constituents and continue the successful warming center partnership into next season.

The need has never been greater. The Willand Warming Center saw approximately 240 unique individuals this season, with as many as 75-90 people per activation. And according to a recent report by the NH Coalition to End Homelessness, the rate of homelessness in NH increased from 331 per 100,000 residents in 2020 to 432 in 2022, reflecting a rate increase of almost 31%.

Of course, a warming center will not solve New Hampshire’s housing crisis. A place to sleep 60 nights per year is not a home. Not even close. A warming center is a Band Aid on a broken bone, but it’s the bare minimum we can do to make sure that everybody stays safe on cold nights.

In the days before a dedicated warming center, Strafford County mostly just hoped churches would operate warming centers here and there, with cities occasionally operating a makeshift warming center themselves. They were often in dilapidated city buildings outfitted with a heater. Not a place for actual rest or advanced care coordination, as has been the case every season at the Willand Warming Center. Karlee’s Home Team has recently had success using the facility for resource fairs where people can access services like treatment and health care, and at a scale service providers often only dream about being able to offer their services on.

Now, does the collaborative warming center need to be the same property at 30 Willand Drive? Not necessarily, but the current Willand Warming Center should not be sold until a new facility is procured. With the sheer number of people accessing the warming center this year, it is not fair to leave a need of this scale to chance and for anything less than 60 activations a season. Ideally, there would be even more activations allotted to account for all nights below 32 degrees.

Quite a bit of public comment at the various city council meetings this past week has revolved around what happens right after this center closes. Not only where are these hundreds of people going to go, but where can those people even go? Encampment after encampment is swept and cleared, displacing people further and further, making it even harder to get ahead.

One solution would be to fund the warming center, or a warming center, for more nights, and nights that extend beyond the winter season. This could include later into the spring when overnight temperatures are still low or on hot summer days. There is community support for it, it’s the right thing to do, and a dedicated weather sheltering center is our best bet against large encampments popping up.

Regardless of what happens, this season should be remembered as the Willand Warming Center’s most successful so far. With all this momentum, all this positive change, it’s an awful shame to feel as if things are about to go back to business as usual. Palana Belken is a Rochester resident.