New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Motel purchase among city’s relief fund plans
The motel would help those experiencing homelessness; other outlays to benefit area agencies, organizations
“We’ve been really grateful for the city of New Haven’s support for people experiencing homelessness during this pandemic. The city’s been a really good partner.”
Columbus House CEO Margaret Middleton
NEW HAVEN — The city plans to use $500,000 of its $122.1 million in federal pandemic recovery funds to help Columbus House buy the New Haven Village Suites extended-stay motel at 3 Long Wharf Drive to continue providing COVID-safe shelter for people experiencing homelessness.
Once the COVID-19 pandemic ends, Columbus House would use the property — which the state has rented with federal aid dollars during the pandemic to provide emergency COVID-safe housing and reduce the density of congregate shelters — to help increase the city’s stock of affordable housing, city records show.
The proposal, which city officials said also would require a
larger commitment of funds from state government, is one of many nuggets contained in a monthly financial report that details how New Haven plans to spend, and in many cases has spent, its federal pandemic recovery funds so far. Columbus House CEO Margaret Middleton said the motel has been of great value to Columbus House — which essentially moved its operations there almost overnight in spring 2020 — and other service providers during the pandemic, helping to provide safer housing for people experiencing homelessness.
She’s hoping the deal goes through.
“We’re really proud to have moved just over 641 households into permanent housing since the start of the pandemic,” Middleton said. “The thing that was really exciting about the hotel as a property is that it has 112 units, so it offered the potential of creating like 75 units of permanently affordable housing.”
She said “that would be a great silver lining of COVID” if it resulted in the creation of additional affordable housing in the community to help keep people from becoming homeless.
“We’ve been really grateful for the city of New Haven’s support for people experiencing homelessness during this pandemic,” Middleton said. “The city’s been a really good partner ... and I think that’s why you see that (funding) number in there.”
‘A significant contribution’ from the state
A city official speaking on condition of anonymity said the 3 Long Wharf Drive purchase is contingent on the state making “a significant contribution” and is complicated by the fact that the current asking price “is considerably above the appraised value.”
The appraised value of the 3.03-acre property, located directly behind the Jordan’s Furniture building, is $6.3 million.
The property is owned by HTAYLW New Haven LLC, which is registered with an address in Hartford. HTA-YLW New Haven LLC, which has Healthcare Trust of America Holdings, LP of Scottsdale, Ariz., listed in state filings as principal, bought the property for $1.6 million in 2016, city records show.
“Columbus House did approach us,” although “they are primarily working with the state,” said city Community Services Administrator Dr. Mehul Dalal.
“We hope it happens,” Dalal said.
“I think our commitment is to work with them on finding a solution” and “ideally, the solution would be maintaining a noncongregate solution,” Dalal said. “It really is a safer and more humane solution across the board, having non-congregate” housing.
The city’s contribution would “still be subject to the public input
process,” he said.
“This is a proposal that the city was very interested in, given that we could safely house almost 200 people in non-congregate spaces,” Dalal said.
$122.1 million in federal funds
The $115.8 million coming New Haven’s way via the American Rescue Plan includes a $90.5 million direct allocation to the city and New Haven’s $25.29 million share of New Haven County’s funding, said Michael Gormany, the city’s acting controller.
In addition, the city is receiving $6.3 million in the earlier CARES Act funding, which includes a
$3.6 million Community Development Block Grant, a $2.6 million Emergency Solutions Grant and $160,000 from the federal Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS program, Gormany said.
The money is being put to a broad range of community uses, including youth engagement, the city’s Clean and Safe program, arts and culture, replacement of lost revenue, basic needs, public health and safety, housing assistance, supporting at-risk populations, economic resiliency and emergency shelter.
The $500,000 allocation toward possible purchase of 3 Long Wharf, which would come from CARES Act funding and has not yet been spent, is one of several proposed outlays to Columbus House, which is among the city’s major providers of emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness.
The city also has allocated $400,000 to help Columbus House hire a new rapid rehousing case manager, eviction prevention case manager and employment specialist and provide rental assistance and client support for credit repair. It has spent $60,239 of that to date.
In addition, it allocated
$140,093 to Columbus House for HVAC upgrades, shelter improvements and cleaning related to COVID-19 at the agency’s main shelter.
Social service agencies benefit
Columbus House is just one of many social service agencies that would benefit from the funding to varying degrees. Others include Catholic Charities/Centro San Jose; Christian Community Action; CitySeed Inc.; FISH of Greater New Haven; Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services; Marrakech; New Haven Ecology Project; r kids inc.; Solar Youth; and Vertical Church, among others.
Among the other, larger expenditures listed in the financial report are:
▶ $977,816 to replace lost public sector revenue to pay for government services that might otherwise see funding sources interrupted by the pandemic.
▶ 802,393 to the CASTLE program to provide housing stabilization and support to households at risk of foreclosure or eviction as a direct result of the pandemic, of which $244,772 had been spent.
▶$402,762 for parks and playground improvements.
▶ $250,000 to the New Haven Partnership Loan Program to provide support and assistance to small businesses, of which
$81,640 had been spent.
▶ $223,639 for program administration and oversight.
▶ $146,474 to Liberty Community Services to hire 1.6 full-time equivalent service navigators “to make showers and laundry available by appointment, provide prepared meals and packaged food and beverages, buy two sets of commercial grade washers and dryers and maintain an inventory of laundry and personal grooming supplies.”
▶ $90,000 to Christian Community Action to supplement the salary of the neighborhood services advocate, who provides services to families and senior citizens needing emergency food and information.
▶ $85,000 for COVID testing. ▶ $85,000 to New Reach emergency shelter to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 with regularly-scheduled deep cleanings, Plexiglas room dividers to be placed between beds in shared client rooms and common areas and other protective equipment.
▶ $70,000 to Youth Continuum to expand services to youth by providing adequate physical space, isolation space and additional clinical assistance.
▶ $60,000 to the Marrakech Taking Initiative Center, or TIC, to hire one manager and one engagement specialist to extend program hours by an additional 25 hours per week and purchase COVID protection equipment.
▶ $50,000 to provide daycare with outreach through Casa Otonal residents.
▶ $50,000 to Liberty Community Services to hire a dedicated outreach worker to unsheltered people “living in places unfit for human habitation.”