Closed for four years for a lack of prison guards, the Erie County Prison Pre-Release Center at 450 East 16th Street off Parade Street will open its doors to provide a nightly place to sleep for men and women experiencing homelessness.
It's an idea that Erie County Executive Brenton Davis has been working on for over a year. "We have about 50 folks that we can take at the present time, but this building has the capacity for well over 150 to close to 200. That will change in the future as we renovate trying to make this more homelike, but this isn't meant to be a long term shelter, this is meant to be that stop gap, that way nobody has to sleep in out in the cold," Davis said.
Because of its original purpose, it's not cozy, but there are bunk beds, showers, laundry facilities and a big dining space. County Executive Davis walked us through the center that will now have a new purpose thanks to partnerships with 15 Erie churches who have been providing a revolving winter shelter called Our Neighbor's Place for 13 years -- but struggled to keep enough volunteers for the need.
So the beds in the pre-release center will now become the Our Neighbor's Place shelter which has moved from church to church on cold winter nights over the last several years. Leaders from each church and their volunteers have had input on the change, visited the shelter and are on board with the idea.
So is Lana Rees, Deputy Director of the Erie County Department of Human Services. "The churches have done a wonderful job over the past 13 years but it is difficult to maintain the volunteers," Rees said. "It's not an easy population to deal with, so this allows everybody to know where their resources are available and seek them in one place."
But Rees said the churches will very much be in charge of the program. "So they're not going to be doing it at the individual church locations. All the churches will each sponsor the same weeks and sign up like they have in the past, and then they'll be providing the food service and helping with registration -- getting people settled in for the night.
Other partners, like the Blue Coats, will help monitor the shelter during the overnight hours, with visitors who stay overnight, expected to leave each morning.
Erie County will offer the facility to the churches at no charges. A urinalysis tenant renting one small office space in the building will help defray utility costs.
County Exec Davis said the county also invested American Rescue Plan funds in the initiative, and it's his hope in time to add more wrap around services into the building to support those who visit to get back on their feet permanently. "Really this is a community coming together to utilize the resources that we have at not a great cost and leverage some of the American Rescue Plan money to renovate the building and make this sustainable in the long term.
So what about the non-violent offenders who used to be on work release from the facility. Davis said the county just approved more extensive electronic monitoring to keep tabs on those folks.
Erie County will cut the ribbon on the new use for the building on Wednesday at noon. First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant will be first to staff the new Our Neighbor's Place in the pre-release center, starting Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm.