ROCHESTER — Karlee's Home Team, seeking funding to provide showers and laundry for the unhoused population, was denied by the city's Finance Committee Tuesday night.
Karlee's Home Team made a request for $250,000 from the city's remaining $1.4 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. The committee led by Mayor Paul Callaghan awarded $1.1 million to a public park and the Rochester Riverwalk project, setting aside the remaining $300,000-plus for a future affordable housing initiative.
"You do not need to be sympathetic to their needs," said Amy Malone, a co-leader of Karlee's Home Team, the nonprofit which managed the Willand Warming Center for Rochester, Dover and Somersworth in winter 2023-24. "But we are responsible for taking care of them. I am talking about Rochester residents, people who went to Spaulding, to William Allen schools. We have people overdosing on the street because they have nowhere to go. I am only asking to help provide showers and a place to do laundry. They are living behind our supermarkets and schools. How do you expect them to get a job, to go to work, to feel normal?"
Malone and Melena Lugo of Karlee's Home Team, remain committed to helping the unhoused in Strafford County and their request would have been used to provide a place for Rochester clients to shower and do laundry. Malone said Strafford County numbers show the need is 2.5 times higher than what it was in the previous few years.
More:Rochester allocates $1.1 million for two big public projects
Callaghan said the city supports the work Karlee's Home Team does, but there remained a question of how it would sustain the shower and laundry services.
"Karlee's Home Team members have huge hearts," Callaghan said. "My concern is: What do we do next year? That money (ARPA) will not be there. So, my recommendation is to put that money into the housing initiative."
Lugo said that in the past two weeks the nonprofit has managed to provide showers for about 25 people.
"Imagine trying to get a job without being able to take a shower," said Lugo. "You will probably be sent away before you even make a start. How can you go to apply for a job, with dirty clothes, without a shower? There is nowhere in the Tri-City area where they can find free showers, where they can do laundry."
Previous story:Willand Warming Center tent city tension leads to talks, but no easy solutions
Lugo said it costs $45,000 a year to provide services for one unhoused person.
"We saw 100 people a night at Willand," she said. "So multiply that $45,000 by 100 people. Then our request is not so much."
Lugo said on Tuesday, she received a call from a woman with an 8-year-old child, and nowhere to sleep.
"That child goes to school in Rochester," Lugo said. "We are also talking with Somersworth and Dover. This request is for Rochester people."
Homelessness problem is widespread
"I get calls from my constituents telling me there is a homeless camp behind their house and asking what to do," said State Rep. Chuck Grassie, D-Rochester. "These people are not all substance users although that and mental health play a part. They are children, seniors, physically disabled persons. Many want to succeed and services like showers and laundry are a bare minimum that can help them be able to go to work."
Grassie told a story, of meeting a fellow legislator at a rest stop in Rochester so they could travel together to go to Concord.
"As I sat there, I saw a car with two teenagers," he said. "One got out and went into the woods to take care of needs, while the other gathered his stuff and brushed his teeth. When the first kid came back, the second headed to the woods. Then, they were headed to school. If we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem."
Rochester resident Naomi Bartels was a volunteer at the Willand Center this past winter.
"The unhoused face numerous challenges, not the least being a safe place to sleep," said Bartels. "Karlee's Home Team set forth this proposal, one that can help make a difference in the lives of these people. We need more. Transportation services, to get to job interviews and appointments is needed. but, this provides a simple service, so needed."
Former city councilor Ashley Desrochers works in social services helping the homeless, people with substance use disorders, and emergency health services. She urged support for the Karlee's Home Team request.
"We know they are providing services where people are coming back for help," she said. "Agencies like Karlee's Home Team and the New Hampshire Harm Reduction Coalition are doing the work. We need to support them. If you had a closet full of smoke detectors, would you just leave them there? No, you would you distribute them."
