By Elliot Brandt
BUFFALO — Erie County’s lease on the former Buffalo Creek Academy on South Park Avenue began Sunday, Nov. 1. The county plans to turn the building into its main winter shelter for people living on the street. But the fight over where the shelter should go is getting louder, and county documents show it will work differently, and cost local taxpayers more, than a typical Code Blue site.
The Buffalo Chronicle reported Oct. 27 that the county had told City Hall in writing that it does not need the city’s zoning approval for the site. Since then, County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Common Council Member Leah Halton-Pope have both taken their cases public.
‘The city doesn’t matter’
Poloncarz told WKBW-TV’s Holly Kirkpatrick on Oct. 27 that the county will lease 514 to 528 South Park Ave. from Ellicott Development for several years and turn it into a 200-bed shelter, run as a second site alongside the Buffalo City Mission.
“We need it, it’s as simple as that,” Poloncarz said. “I wish we didn’t. I wish we had people who were not homeless or needing temporary assistance but when people are homeless you gotta help them.”
Asked whether he had talked with city officials, Poloncarz said he had told the district’s Council member, Mitch Nowakowski of the Fillmore District. He said the city had no role to play.
“The interesting thing is the city doesn’t matter. The county has the ability to do this without going through the city,” Poloncarz said. “Some of our folks reached out, but to tell you the truth, they [the city] don’t matter. They’re not part of our decision making.”
“We understand the concerns of our city partners but we’re not gonna let some ‘NIMBYism’, which you often see, prevent us from building what is necessary to ensure this Code Blue shelter is open when the weather gets cold,” he said.
Nowakowski declined to comment to WKBW.
‘Where we put these things really matters’
Halton-Pope represents the neighboring Ellicott District, which includes the Perry Homes across South Park Avenue. She said she learned about the plan from residents there, not from the county. She has asked the county to stop work until city and county officials meet.
“Do we need a Code Blue shelter? 100% we do,” Halton-Pope told WKBW. “But where we put these things really matters.”
“There are some serious concerns about the safety and well being of both those individuals who will be needing the Code Blue shelter and the residents that are there,” she said, pointing to recent criminal activity in the area.
She pushed back on the “not in my backyard” label in an Oct. 28 interview with WBEN. “I’m not opposed to a Code Blue shelter, and helping those experiencing homelessness. My concern is that the location is directly across the street from the Perry Homes and we have to consider the impact on existing residents,” she said.
“The Perry Homes are no longer call housing projects, it’s not appropriate anymore. They’ve have been upgraded,” Halton-Pope told the station. “They offer a safe and reliable place to live.”
WBEN reported that Halton-Pope agrees the county doesn’t need the city’s permission. Her complaint is that there was no community engagement. She said she doesn’t know where the shelter should go instead, and has asked for a community meeting to discuss other sites.
Open every night, not just the coldest
The county’s request for proposals for a shelter operator shows this will not be a typical Code Blue site. Under state rules, a Code Blue alert is called when the temperature is expected to fall below 32 degrees, with wind chill, for at least two hours in a row. In the past, the county’s RFP says, one or two providers opened only on those nights.
“This year services will operate 24/7 regardless of temperature,” the document says. The shelter is to stay open “on or about November 1st through April 30th.”
That change has a price. The RFP says the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance reimburses only days and nights that meet Code Blue criteria. “Local funds will cover the costs of days and nights above 32 degrees,” it says.
The county is offering the operator $1,085,000. That figure came after an Oct. 15 addendum that re-released the RFP with “increased compensation” and a later due date. Proposals were due Oct. 28, and the county says it will pick an operator in November. The county has not said publicly how much of the cost it expects the state to cover, or how many beds will open first.
An environmental review that ended a day later
The county’s Oct. 6 letter to Mayor Sean Ryan said Erie County was including the city “in its coordinated review pursuant to SEQRA,” the state environmental review law. One day later, on Oct. 7, county Chief Planner Mark P. Rountree signed a determination that the project is a “Type II action.” Under state rules, that means no further environmental review is required.
The determination covers more than winter beds. It lists “a Code Blue Shelter, Emergency Shelter Support, Temporary Housing Assistance, Domestic Violence Housing Support, and/or ancillary support services” at 514 through 534 South Park Ave. Neither document says what role the city would have in a review that was finished the day after the city was invited into it. The Chronicle has asked the county.
What to watch
Which agency wins the operator contract, and when the doors open. Whether the county holds the community meeting Halton-Pope asked for. And whether the Legislature, which approved the lease unanimously last month, according to The Buffalo News, will be told what the warm-night costs come to by spring.
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