If not there, where?
In Saratoga Springs, the search for a suitable homeless shelter location goes on and on.
Asite next to a school was never going to be an ideal place for a low-barrier shelter for homeless people, and the backlash generated by the Saratoga Springs plan to build such a facility adjacent to Saratoga Central Catholic School was as predictable as it was inevitable.
So it’s probably for the best that Shelters of Saratoga has withdrawn its bid to build a 24-hour drop-in center for homeless people at 5 Williams St., a city-owned building that formerly housed the Saratoga Springs Senior Center. The problem, though, is that the withdrawal brings the plan to build a desperately needed shelter in the city back to square one, continuing a saga that has been going on since at least 2017.
That was the year Shelters of Saratoga proposed building a permanent winter sanctuary next to the nonprofit’s existing location on Walworth Street — a proposal that was blocked when a court sided with neighbors who opposed the project. Other proposed sites have also been rebuffed, even as the problem of homelessness in Saratoga
Springs seemingly worsens. Indeed, anyone wanting evidence of the severity of the problem only needs to visit the downtown parking garage where homeless men and women sleep at night.
Is Saratoga Springs capable of responding to the problem? After so many years of dead ends and false hopes, it’s fair to wonder.
In a sign of how degraded and irrational this debate has become, some who opposed the Williams Street shelter allegedly sent threats of physical violence to Duane Vaughn, the executive director of Shelters, and the president of the group’s board of directors. The Diocese of Albany Catholic Schools, which opposed building the shelter on Williams Street, rightly condemned those threats as “absolutely abhorrent,” and rightly so. Can’t we disagree without being far worse than disagreeable?
Meanwhile, Mayor Ron Kim has declared that he no longer has confidence in Shelters of Saratoga’s ability and commitment to building the shelter. The Democrat, promising the city will move forward on its own, if need be, also says he will name a task force charged with finding an appropriate shelter location.
“Saratoga should not shirk from its responsibility to do this,” Mr. Kim said during his recent State of the City address, calling the conditions endured by the city’s homeless population inhumane and dangerous.
Kudos to Mr. Kim for refusing to waver, even when doing so might be politically expedient. Going forward, the mayor will need continued fortitude and strong, vocal backing from city residents who support a shelter, because you can be sure that a centrally located site that is near, well, anything at all is going to generate significant opposition, including the threat of lawsuits. But this is a task that Saratoga Springs must accomplish.
The true measure of a place, after all, can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable. And while Saratoga Springs is hardly alone in falling short in that regard, the city can and must do better. This seemingly endless saga needs to end.