AMHERST — Since becoming homeless for the second time in December, Mike Cote has come to a trailer parked in a Massachusetts Avenue parking lot to fill out applications for housing, store a fresh set of clothes in a bin and keep vital documents in a safe place.
Suffering from spinal stenosis, Cote said the Craig’s Doors Resource Center lightens the load of what he has to lug around town in his backpack and gives him one less thing to worry about.
But Cote is among those affected by the pending departures of Craig’s Doors: A Home Association Inc.’s three staff members, Executive Director Jade Lovett and Aidan Novo and Kerry Brock, who manage both the Craig’s Place seasonal shelter and the resource center.
“It’s a damn shame,” Cote, 49, said of the closing of the resource center for the foreseeable future, scheduled for 3 p.m. Thursday.
He said the staff members understand the nuances of each person they are serving. “I’m going to miss the girls,” Cote said.
Lovett said Cote’s reaction is typical since she and her colleagues announced two weeks ago that they would leave their positions when the board of directors was unable to meet a series of demands they say are necessary to improve operations. These include developing a strategic fundraising plan, writing a clear set of bylaws for the organization and recruiting new members to serve on the board.
Board Chairman Gerry Weiss didn’t respond to messages left for him Wednesday. But he said previously that the resource center would have to close for a time because of the staff departures, and the organization would be focused on opening the shelter on time in November.
“Most people are nervous and sad and uncertain what’s going to happen,” Lovett said. “We try really hard to treat guests as human beings, rather than just clients.”
The most immediate fallout is closing the main office. “A lot of guests have belongings and documents here that they need access to,” Lovett said.
But it also means putting the hub of case management, the housing program, on hold.
“It’s good to have here, because it’s literally a walk across the parking lot,” Lovett said.
That shelter, in the nearby First Baptist Church, 434 North Pleasant St., is traditionally open from Nov. 1 to April 30.
“The board intends to prioritize opening the shelter in the fall, and I think they intend to reopen the housing program and resource center as soon as possible,” Lovett said.
Since announcing that the resource center would close, Lovett has alerted guests that access to the trailer will be extremely limited after Aug. 1 and will remain so until after new staff is hired.
This has caused her to encourage guests to change their mailing addresses, if they’re using the site to get mail, and to find other arrangements to get mail to them, such as at the Wednesday morning breakfast at the Unitarian Meetinghouse in downtown Amherst, or possibly the Amherst Survival Center in North Amherst.
One thing that won’t change much is the weekly breakfast, which draws at least 90 and as many as 115 people.
“That’s the program that will stay most consistent,” Lovett said.
Eliot Community Human Services’ homeless outreach will continue to provide case management there and Craig’s Doors has already worked out logistics that will guarantee the food still gets to the site, she said.
Other partners, including Soldier On and representatives from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and MassHealth, will also continue to be at the breakfast, along with the periodic presence of Tapestry, which has trained people in how to use Narcan for heroin overdoses.
Lovett said a physician from Health Care for the Homeless who comes to the resource center will also find an alternative site. “She’ll have another place to offer those services,” Lovett said
Both Eliot and Soldier On assist with the housing program and will continue to do so. “They are aware of cases that need to be transferred,” Lovett said.
Amherst Survival Center Executive Director Lev Ben-Ezra said her agency is also ready to help.
“We plan to offer a temporary home to some of the auxiliary services offered through the resource center, including mail delivery and services offered by collaborators,” Ben-Ezra said. “We will consider long-term options to ensure access to these services as the future of Craig’s Doors unfolds.”
Though she anticipates there will be new leadership, Lovett said shelter operations will remain much as they have, opening daily at 9:30 p.m. during the coldest months and providing 28 beds for women and men.
A line item in the state budget provides $175,000 in annual funding, which is supplemented with grants and other appeals, such as the annual Shelter Sunday event.
But Lovett said success of the organization will depend on changes to have a different dynamic and solve what she terms a dysfunctional board.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman said though he is paying close attention, the town has no direct oversight since it is state dollars that fund the operations and a church building that is used as the shelter site.
“We don’t give money and we’re not the landlord,” Bockelman said. “The town’s involvement is more in support.”
That support includes nightly visits from police officers and coordination with the Fire Department should any medical needs arise.
But Bockelman said the town is interested in how the shelter, and other services offered by Craig’s Doors, continue to be delivered.
It’s almost certain that the shelter will remain the only one in the region that is behavior-based, meaning people can be under the influence of drugs or alcohol and not be denied entry, so long as they don’t cause trouble.
Novo said there is widespread support, both in town and the area, for keeping this option available to people.
Novo said oddly that many of the guests are concerned about the future of the staff. Novo is heading to graduate school in the fall, while Lovett and Brock intend to stay in the medical and social services fields.
“I think we’re tired. I love this work, but need the time off,” Brock said.
Lovett said she does feel burnt out and though she worries for guests coping with the change, she is surprised at how many are more concerned for the welfare of the staff.
“The most heartbreaking reaction from our guests is when they ask us ‘are you going to be OK?’” Lovett said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
