Thank you to Jonathan Crimmins for his column about Tedford Housing (The Times Record, March 21) and for drawing attention to the challenges we face in providing services to homeless adults and families. We certainly agree with him that, “Every town and city has an obligation to make sure that her residents have the opportunity to succeed.”

As members of the Tedford Housing Board of Directors, we are all too familiar with the reality that Mr. Crimmins describes: “that many people in this area are one crisis away from having their world turned upside down.” Tedford works hard to create pathways on which to move people from homelessness to home by helping them address whatever challenges have caused them to experience homelessness in the first place.

The reality is that more than 336 individual adults approached Tedford Housing for assistance in 2017 and only 64 could be directly helped with shelter housing (19 percent). And we are only able to shelter about 10 percent of families requesting access, turning away an average of 24 families per month. Our community needs more shelter beds, and our neighbors who face the challenges of homelessness need to be supported in building skills, support networks, and income and to have assistance in finding a permanent place to live in order to thrive.

Mr. Crimmins expresses a concern we share about the state of our current facilities, “Anyone who has been inside the shelter would notice that space is at a premium and the building has been used to maximum potential.” What he does not say is that the buildings are old and decrepit and were never intended to be used as emergency shelters. Our community needs more capacity to house and provide services for our homeless neighbors in a modern and efficient facility.

His guest column, understandably, goes on to question the proposed location on Baribeau for a new Tedford shelter for individuals and families, and asks why we did not choose a site closer to downtown. Indeed, Tedford Housing initially sought a location closer to the downtown area for many of the same reasons that Mr. Crimmins has identified – to allow guests of the shelter to have greater access to services and opportunities. Tedford staff and Board spent close to a year identifying potential intown sites but were ultimately priced out of these properties. We would like nothing better than to have a much-needed new shelter in a central location that is affordable.

We are committed to building a new facility that will not only provide decent emergency shelter but will, more importantly, offer services on-site to assist adults and families in finding and keeping affordable, permanent housing. Anyone familiar with the real estate market in this area knows that this is not an easy proposition. We need and want the community’s help and support in this effort.

We know that rumor and innuendo often accompany efforts to create emergency shelters. We would prefer open and honest dialogue about a difficult problem that this community faces and appreciate Mr. Crimmins’ help in starting that dialogue. We look forward to working with the town planner, the building committee, the Town Council and area residents to fulfill our mission, to “create pathways from homelessness to home” for those who need our community’s help.

Submitted by Tedford Housing President Andree Appel, on behalf of the board of directors.