Lifebridge Unveils Plans to Add 22 Housing Units

Representatives from said they plan to add 22 apartment units to their Margin Street location.

At a meeting with residents of the greater Endicott Street neighborhood, Lifebridge Executive Director Mark Cote said the occupants of the units would primarily be those with mental health issues.

"They're the folks you might see walking down Margin Street screaming at trees," Cote said. If given an opportunity to receive medication consistently and reunite with families, "these people can really be turned around," Cote said. If provided a place to stay, where they can "shut out the madness of the streets…[they] can start to put the pieces together."

Officials said it has been difficult to support certain populations in the past because of criteria from Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which required proof that individuals were chronically homeless. Cote said the shelter had to work with HUD to document and "create a paper trail" for those in the community in need of services.

Plans currently call for two floors of housing above Lifebridge's main building at 56 Margin St.

Andrew Oliver, president of Lifebridge's Board of Directors, assured residents there are no plans to expand housing into St. Mary's Italian Church. Oliver apologized to residents for the controversy ignited among community members when housing in the church was proposed two years ago.

Money for the project would come from the state's Department of Housing and Community Development, Oliver said.

Of the Lifebridge's current $1.1 million budget, Cote said "public money is 50 percent."

Cote said he expects the the project will cost "north of $2 million." In an ideal, but most likely "overly optimistic" situation, Oliver said the project would be completed by the end of 2012.

Several residents expressed concern with the use of drugs and alcohol at the shelter, and told officials they constantly find nips in their backyards.

Officials said individuals who live in the proposed housing units would have to meet certain criteria like those who currently stay in the shelter.

Cote said the shelter is a dry shelter, "and anyone who walks through the door has to be sober." Residents are also subject to drug testing. Residents in the new units would also be required to contribute 30 percent of their income to rent.

The shelter has organized surprise "raids" with law enforcement and trained dogs looking for drugs, Cote said.
 
As for alcohol and the nips problem, Cote said Lifebridge and the City have looked in the possibility, but are not able to restrict liquor stores' sale of nips.

Cote said the shelter staff has a proactive relationship with the , particularly the department's Community Impact Unit headed by Sgt. Harry Rocheville and Sgt. Dennis King.

"They get the names and social security numbers faxed [to them] every week," Cote said. "The police know exactly who is in the building."

Greater Endicott Street Neighborhood Association Member Jeff Cox expressed concern with the level 2 and level 3 sex offenders that might come to the community to utilize the housing.

"I know everyone needs to live somewhere," Cox said. "I'm not throwing the first stone, but there is concern."

Cote said Lifebridge "doesn't want to become the refuge harboring level 3 sex offenders," but said "if they weren't in a shelter with an 8 p.m. curfew, who knows where they would be?" Cote also said the shelter also limits how many sex offenders are accepted.

Oliver and Cote invited residents to tour the shelter and maintain an open dialogue with Lifebridge, City Councilors and SPD's Community Impact Unit.

At the close of the meeting, Chief Administrative Aide Jason Silva said the  administration is pleased with its working relationship with Lifebridge.

"Over the last two to three years we have seen a huge shift…from an almost adversarial relationship with the [Salem] Mission to a more cooperate line of communication," he said.