Salisbury council shores up funds for homeless housing at Anne Street Village, all to know

The Salisbury City Council in Monday's work session addressed the needed upgrades to bolster the future of Anne Street Village, the city’s first transitional housing community for homeless residents.

By reallocating Community Development Block Grant Funding, originally from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the council was able to provide funding for sidewalk improvements to the Waterside Park project while also leaving grant allocations in place for the amounts of $19,000 for a case manager and $50,000 for Anne Street Village Rehabilitation.

The revision to the resolution was approved unanimously by councilmembers and without public comment.

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That 'pot of money' is staying put

According to the council, more than one organization has expressed interest in partnering with Salisbury in the operation of Anne Street Village in one capacity or another. The city is now in the process of issuing a Request For Proposals that is geared toward identifying the best partner and plan to help get the best results from the asset.

"This is just a (funding) resolution modification to include Waterside Park and some bathrooms and pavilions to finish those projects," said City Administrator Andy Kitzrow. "After a strategic planning meeting with our housing and homelessness team, we're going to continue to look at the Request for Proposals process, but until we have a decision on what we want to do at Anne Street Village, we're not moving any money from that project."

Salisbury City Council President D'Shawn Doughty echoed those sentiments, noting that "pot of money" needs to stay earmarked for that community.

Kitzrow also added there is currently a draft of the request completed in collaboration with the city's director of procurement. The plan is to have the official request completed and released within one to two weeks. Completing it will entail getting community partners to review the document to ensure it addresses the bevy of needs for Anne Street Village.

"We also have good news that it looks like we're going from 10 occupants to 15. So we're starting to see an uptick and we're well on our way to start filling up the (location). We've had a very productive meeting working with them and we might have a short list of overnight house managers," Kitzrow said.

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During the June 3 regular City Council meeting, two separate issues were discussed "concurrently," with the first noting the city has no plans to close Anne Street Village. In late March, the city began to "gauge interest from groups and organizations within the Salisbury community to see if any were interested in partnering on the project," said a June 7 statement by the council.

“This RFP for Anne Street Village is being sought to find a partner which will help allow the facility to be run at its full capacity by an agency that has a greater level of experience in the care of and management of homelessness,” said Mayor Randy Taylor also in the June 7 joint statement.

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This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Anne Street Village funds shored up by Salisbury council. All to know