This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Catholic Community Services is working with county and city officials to avoid service cuts at the Weigand Homeless Resource Center on weekends after its directors said this week a $60,000 funding gap would force it to close its doors to hundreds of homeless residents.
The center said its funding gap came from higher security costs amid persistent crime and drug use near the 1,100-bed shelter at The Road Home in downtown Salt Lake City that had created threats to the safe environment Weigand provides 360 people during the day.
Catholic Community Services (CCS) officials said unless they receive more money, the center would shut its doors on the weekends to ensure it would have enough money to stay open all week during the winter.
The city and CCS agreed Weigand would continue full-time service for 45 days while they look for money that will carry it through the year.
The funding shortage comes two years after the day-time service provider hired an outside security firm to help with pressure from the hordes of people in the Rio Grande neighborhood who are associated with open drug use.
"We've had to get security guards coming on property because problems on the street overflow onto our side of the fence," said Matt Melville, director of homeless services at CCS.
Melville said CCS recognized the increased costs of keeping drugs and violence outside the center would take up money it needed to remain the only year-round daytime shelter in the city.
Yet, he said, contracts from the city and county remained flat this year after the city and county councils recently finished budgeting.
"For whatever reason, they've prioritized The Road Home over the daytime shelter and service providers," Melville said.
The shortage comes at a time when city, county and state leaders are working to improve the way homeless services are delivered, and much of that work has focused on The Road Home.
Legislators helped push the city and county to pick locations for smaller shelters that are supposed to open by July 1, 2019, when The Road Home is scheduled to close.
Melville said CCS believes even after that happens, there will continue to be a need for daytime and overnight homeless resources in the Rio Grande area downtown, and Weigand will likely remain there.
The lack of funding apparently surprised the city despite recent conversations about budget woes. But Salt Lake City leaders are committed to helping bridge the gap without any service interruptions, spokesman Matthew Rojas said.
The gap also comes just one month after the Salt Lake County Council voted unanimously to send $400,000 to Shelter the Homeless, the nonprofit entity now spearheading the homelessness reform effort, for security at The Road Home.
Weigand and The Road Home use the same security company, Melville said.
Janell Fluckiger, the nonprofit's executive director, said conversations began immediately to figure out how security services might be shared.
"That funding is intended to help provide security at The Road Home," Fluckiger said. "But we also want to make sure we're being as supportive as we can of Catholic Community Services and doing more to integrate the security."
Twitter: @TaylorWAnderson