A Rochester homeless shelter operator is disbanding, having already shuttered a series of shelters over the past year.
REACH Advocacy, at its peak, boasted six shelters totaling about 80 beds in its system known as Project Haven. All have closed, worsening the shortage of shelter space amid a spike in homelessness in the Rochester region.
The nonprofit, which was entirely grant and donation supported, simply ran out of money, said Pat Tobin, the group’s board chairman. He described the dissolution as “painful.” There is a clear need for low barrier shelters, he said, but the day-to-day operations of running one became unsustainable.
“People need to hear how difficult it is when John Jones walks in the door, has nowhere to go, and needs help,” Tobin said. “What happens next?”
Person-Centered Housing Options, a similar homeless outreach and support organization, is taking over an ambitious REACH project to build a tiny house community near Edgerton recreation center. But officials said the organization will not be re-opening the Project Haven shelters.
Monroe County’s homeless population has doubled in recent years. The most recent point-in-time count reported 1,054 homeless last year, up from 521 three years prior.
The annual point-in-time count is a metric overseen by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and provides a one-day census of the homeless population.
Among the REACH shelters was a large mixed-gender shelter on Barberry Terrace in northeast Rochester, a shelter focused on women who were victims of sex trafficking, and the city’s only LGBTQ-focused shelter. All of those shelters were low barrier, meaning they had little requirements for residents to stay there. The Barberry Terrace location was the last to shut its doors, closing in March after about nine years in operation.
“When you try to start a non-profit, and you’re trying to solve a very big gap in the community, and your one funding source is highly regulated, and the donor base is this small, and you’re 90% social services funding, you’re at a very high risk of what’s happening to REACH,” said Nick Coulter, chief development officer for Person-Centered Housing Options.
For REACH, being a low-barrier shelter presented additional barriers as government assistance for homeless populations comes with income restrictions. And a person cannot be under sanctions for violating a shelter’s rules to qualify. Yet those people still require shelter, Tobin said.
“I hate to use this language, but that person is bringing in zero revenue, because you can’t reimburse for them,” Tobin said.
The proposed development of a dozen tiny houses is planned for a city-owned vacant lot on Clarence Park. That project, known as Edgerton Meadows, first was approved by the Rochester City Council in 2022. The City Roots Community Land Trust originally was tasked with developing the site, before the project was handed over to REACH in 2023. City Council members could vote this month to transfer the land purchase agreement to Person-Centered Housing Options.
The tiny house project would be for people making less than 30% of the area median income, or $31,170 for a family of four.
Coulter said his organization will be seeking state funding through the Homeless Housing and Assistance Program. Ideally, he said, the project would be launched in 2027, but that’s contingent on whether they secure the funding and final construction costs.
“We want to make this the best, first tiny home project we can make it, so that we can do more,” Coulter said. “If we don’t do well with the first one, then we’re not doing any seconds.”
Dana Miller, the city of Rochester’s commissioner of Neighborhood and Business Development, confirmed that the tiny house project will be unchanged under the leadership of Person-Centered Housing Options.
REACH’s most recently available tax documents show it having $55,961 in assets at the end of 2023.
