Sheltered Inc. Board President Ross McGregor at the end of last month announced that the men’s shelter, The Hartley House, is set to close Jan. 2 and the family shelter, Norm’s Place, will likely follow suit in March.
City leaders are working on a short-term solution with Sheltered Inc. to best serve those experiencing homelessness, Mayor Rob Rue said.
“At the same time, within those same meetings are discussions about, what is the longer term strategy and what do we need to do and how can we initiate these next steps?” Rue said. “We can’t wait until Sheltered Inc. announces a closure to react.”
Sheltered Inc. is working to raise funds to avoid the closure of either shelter at least until the end of winter, McGregor said.
“We’re trying to raise money to keep the men’s shelter open, but if we can’t, then we’re going to close it in the beginning of January so that we can keep Norm’s Place open for the winter,” McGregor said. “But the bottom line is, without sustainable funding, none of the shelters can stay open.”
County lawsuit against Sheltered Inc.
Sheltered Inc. has seen financial turmoil over the last two years after it lost a portion of its county administered funds meant to be used for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Prevention, Retention and Contingency (PRC) services.
Last year, Clark County filed a civil lawsuit against Sheltered Inc. for breach of contract and is seeking reimbursement of more than $500,000. This lawsuit stems from a county allegation that the nonprofit mismanaged funds meant for TANF or PRC services, which provide work support and other services to low-income families.
The lawsuit alleges that Sheltered Inc. did not provide proper documentation for reimbursements and submitted invoices for expenses not allowed under the program, including staff salaries, utilities, rent, insurance, office supplies, gasoline, facility maintenance/repairs, contracted personnel, hotels, gas cards, bus passes, meals and birth records.
The issues were reportedly found through a state audit of the Department of Job and Family Services.
Sheltered Inc. has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
A ‘fragile’ organization
Sheltered Inc. has had a tumultuous two years since it lost initial funds, struggling to stay afloat. Both of its shelters multiple times had operational times reduced to 12 hours daily instead of 24, and many staff members lost their jobs. Director Elaina Bradley left the organization last year and the organization was run by an interim director until Neal Browning took over in March this year.
Because of its ongoing lawsuit with the county, Bradley said last year a city official told her organization it was ineligible to apply to manage the Executive Inn.
City Manager Bryan Heck said at the August 2024 emergency meeting that Bradley and others who repeated the allegation were referring to him, and denied doing so.
OIC previously funded Sheltered Inc. through the Homeless Assistance Program with ARPA dollars, but is now uninvolved in its finances. OIC is the state-designated the Community Action Agency for Clark County.
Rue said while Sheltered Inc. is run by people with “good hearts” who deeply care for those experiencing homelessness, the structure is not strong enough to adequately help.
“Sheltered Inc. is fragile right now; their funding is fragile, their staffing is fragile, their systems in place are fragile,” Rue said. “Everything is too insecure in my mind to handle the ongoing problem.”
Help from outside Springfield?
Dayton-based nonprofit Homefull, which has the mission to work to end homelessness, began working in Springfield in July 2023, stepping in to manage a shelter at the former Executive Inn. While there, the nonprofit encountered issues with plumbing and previously deferred maintenance from when the building was a hotel.
Sheltered Inc. was previously considered by the city as the agency to oversee functions at the location, but the project went to Homefull due to “financial issues” that Sheltered faced in the aftermath of a county contract cancellation, Heck said during a city commission meeting in 2023.
On Aug. 5, 2024, the city held an emergency meeting to vote on whether to fund Homefull’s continuing operation of the shelter at a cost of up to $1,047,436 of federal funds, with the option to renew for three more one-year periods. City commissioners voted down the proposal 3-2, with the concern appearing to be not all rooms being operational for the amount of funds provided. However, the funds would have been provided on a reimbursement basis for services rendered.
Families were made to abruptly leave the following day, and OIC of Clark County worked toward placing individuals in Sheltered Inc. shelters or temporarily in a hotel.
The Executive Inn is now up for sale by the city and has reportedly sustained significant damage while vacant.
Because the city now has only one shelter provider, the community has limited access to TANF dollars, according to the city.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Rue, who was one of two votes in support of funding for Homefull, praised the nonprofit for its experience and outcomes, helping people leave homelessness. He said the city has reestablished a relationship with the agency “based on our previous contractual relationship,” opening the door to working with them again.
“Right now our focus is with regional partners, and we started with the one that we had a relationship with that had good metrics, that did what they said they were going to do,” Rue said.
County Commissioner Melanie Flax Wilt previously said the closure of the Homefull shelter came as a result of some city leaders, both in city government and not, insisting that Sheltered Inc. be the only provider of shelter for those experiencing homelessness in Springfield.
Homefull CEO Tina Patterson did not return a request for comment.
After the shelter closed, Patterson told the News-Sun there was no set plan in place to address or solve the homelessness crisis in Springfield, which was something upon which she had been eager to work. She said Homefull’s mission is to end homelessness and that the emergency shelter was just a small part of it.
Rue said a collaborative approach to serving those experiencing homelessness is crucial, and all biases against organizations involved should be ignored in favor of helping people in need.
“Work in the spirit of collaboration and unity and lay down your bias on organizational concerns and provide the care that you’re willing to provide,” Rue said.
For example, Rue said there are some volunteers who were involved in the citizen-run warming shelter last year who are not part of the current city- and Nehemiah Foundation-run warming shelter.
“It’s about the people that need the warmth and need the food; it’s not about the organization,” Rue said. “A warm place and a hot bowl of soup is a warm place and a hot bowl of soup, period.”
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