Thomas Breen photo
Safe Haven at 204 State St.
The 33 formerly homeless residents of a supportive-housing complex will have access to on-site medical treatment, after a Ninth Square nonprofit won permission to boost wraparound services.
Zoning commissioners granted that unanimous approval Tuesday night during the latest regular monthly meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals. The four-hour virtual meeting took place online via Zoom.
Zoom
Tuesday’s BZA virtual meeting.
The commissioners unanimously OK’d an application by Liberty Community Services Executive Director Jim Pettinelli for a special exception to waive a condition of a previous zoning-related approval that prohibited medical treatment from being allowed at 204 – 210 State St.
That’s the home of Liberty Safe Haven, a four-story residential building in between Crown Street and George Street that currently provides “permanent supportive housing” for 33 tenants, Pettinelli said.
“All of these individuals previously experienced chronic homelessness, and a majority of these individuals are living with a chronic health condition or substance use disorder, or both.”
Since the housing facility first opened in 2003, Pettinelli (pictured) said, “we have had a plus-90 percent successful tenancy rate.”
Liberty’s ability to keep people safely and stably housed over the years has been boosted in large part by providing a host of wraparound services targeted at these uniquely burdened needs. Those services currently include case management, psychiatric nursing, crisis intervention, and addiction and recovery support.
Pettinelli said that Liberty always envisioned providing medical care on the ground-floor of the building in conjunction with Cornell Scott Hill Health Center’s Homeless Care Unit. But a zoning approval received by Liberty back in 2003 included a condition that explicitly prohibited on-site medical treatment.
“I am a nonprofit practitioner,” Pettinelli said as he asked for the commissioners’ patience while talking through the special exception application. “These zoning issues are really not my skillset.”
This application, he said, sought to remedy that prior condition standing in the way of providing on-site medical care.
“We believe that this is an appropriate use of the space on the first floor, and that medical uses are allowed in BD‑1 zoning districts.”
Also, he said, “we see this as an accessory use to support the housing, which is the principal use, and that the size and set up of the space does not rise to any level of site plan approval.”
And third, he said, “this has become a particularly urgent matter during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
So many of Liberty Safe Haven’s clients live with chronic health conditions, he said. Being able to provide on-site care during a pandemic that makes any kind of travel outside of the home potentially risky will be a boon.
During the public testimony section of the hearing, Liberty’s application received only praise and recommendations of approval.
“Liberty Community Services does provide wraparound services to this community,” said the city’s homeless services coordinator, Velma George (pictured). “The pandemic has really highlighted the need for this service-in house, and so I appeal to the board to consider supporting this request.”
Local affordable housing advocate Claudette Kidd (pictured) agreed. “They have a great team of staff,” she said. They provide training, food, and a host of targeted support for the formerly homeless. “They do a lot of things, not just house people. They’re a benefit to the community.”
Liberty has been a downtown and Ninth Square neighbor for decades, said local landlord David Goldblum (pictured).
“They provide an essential human need for people who are nearby, and they do it in a way that helps them very much and does not have any negative impact that I’ve seen on the neighborhood. … Anything that helps them do the magic that they’re doing, I would very much approve of.”
And local attorney Ben Trachten (pictured), whose office is a few blocks up State Street, also threw his rhetorical weight behind the proposal.
He said he has visited the Safe Haven site quite a few times in his capacity as a court-appointed conservator.
“The Safe Haven program is so important to the tenants who reside there,” he said. “The wraparound services are critical to the long-term success of these residents.”
Plus, sustaining the current site avoids a further clustering of such social services that usually takes place along Grand Avenue.
Fair Haven Alder Jose Crespo noted that the pandemic has caused Cornell Scott Hill Health and other healthcare services to turn more to telemedicine to enable vulnerable residents to avoid traveling outside of their homes.
While that is laudable, he said, “there’s nothing that compares to having staff on-site.”
Awesome! We need more supportive housing with all the services vulnerable populations need to get healthy and succeed in their path to recovery. Having those services on site removes a barrier to those residents being able to access care and support to turn their lives around and manage their conditions.