The city has announced the opening of seven daytime warming centers to provide respite from the cold for people living with homelessness or without reliable heat in their homes.
Located at …
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The city has announced the opening of seven daytime warming centers to provide respite from the cold for people living with homelessness or without reliable heat in their homes.
Located at Cranston Public Library branches and the Cranston Senior Center, these warming centers will give residents a way to get out of the cold for a few hours.
Michelle Wilcox, president and CEO of Crossroads in Providence, which provides help with housing and homelessness, says these warming centers are a “life-saving response.”
Wilcox notes that although the unhoused community greatly benefits from these centers, they also help low-income households that don’t have reliable heat during the winter.
Sherry Diaz, vice president of social services at Comprehensive Community Action Program, said heating-oil prices were “outrageous” last year and the year before.
She said she saw prices close to $5 a gallon. This year, prices are down, she says, noting that she has seen $2.65 and $3.09 a gallon.
Nonetheless, she said, “In the severe cold weather … if your heat goes out, your furnace breaks down, you have a pipe burst, something like that, there needs to be places for people. And in that case, I'm talking about particularly very low-income people who may not have the other safety net or other resources. So having warming centers available for folks in communities across the state is really important.”
CCAP’s clients can be assisted with heat throughout the year with the LIHEAP heating-fuel assistance program.
"People who are in homes, even if they run out of oil, most times it's a quick fix; especially if they have LIHEAP,” Diaz said. “Because we'll call the vendor to say, ‘Hey, look, this person's been approved. They need oil now. Can you get out to them?’”
But because of the lack of funding, the state will give crisis status only to households that include people with disabilities, elderly people or a child under 5. Once those people are served, the round of funding will open to the rest of households.
It is not uncommon for city and town government locations to act as warming centers during normal operating hours, which provides a safe place to be during the day, especially for people who have very low incomes, Wilcox said.
Jennifer Barrera is the chief strategy officer at the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness and she says it is important for warming centers to be available throughout the day and night.
“A lot of homeless advocates and the coalition have been really working hard to make sure that people realize that warming resources need to be available when the weather is really cold throughout the days and the nights,” Barrera said. "Particularly the nights, the nights are even colder.”
She said that people who are experiencing homelessness usually go back to the places where they would traditionally sleep year-round when the hours of operation for regular warming centers close.
In the latest numbers, Barrera said the number of people who are outside and experiencing homelessness was about 620 last week and about 670 the week before that.
At Crossroads, they provide a 24/7 warming center for those in need.
“I think the people who are experiencing homelessness are by and large utilizing the warming centers that Crossroads and some of the other homeless service providers are operating,” Wilcox said. “Because, again, what they can get here that they don't get or couldn't get at, say, a library or someplace like that, is access to supportive services.”
Some communities have also acted by opening 24/7 warming centers. Cities like East Providence and Providence are some recent examples, and Barrera also cites Newport and Woonsocket. She says they should serve as an example for other communities that have people in need.
Barrera said these resources are important because Rhode Island has been experiencing a phenomenon for years where there aren’t enough sufficient emergency shelter resources available.
“There are hundreds of people who are outside every single night,” Barrera said. “And when the weather becomes extremely cold and lethal, we have to have a resource across the state, not just in one location, but across the state where people can come inside and stay warm and stay alive.”
As the cold weather continues to get frostier, Wilcox says it’s important for people to recognizes that warming centers are lifesaving. There are about 650 people who are homeless and unsheltered, she said, and she urges anyone experiencing homelessness to come to the warming shelters during this weather.
“Folks can come into our warming center, and they won't necessarily be asked to do anything; they can keep to themselves,” Wilcox said. “It really is just about getting out of the elements and making sure that they're in a safe situation.”
The Cranston library branches and Cranston Senior Center will be operating as warming shelters for anyone in need during their normal operating hours. Hours for each library branch can be found at https://www.cranstonlibrary.org/locations/.
The Senior Center, at 1070 Cranston St., is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, and is closed Saturday and Sunday.
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