Utah News Dispatch
With funds for 670 homeless overflow beds running out, board OKs $1 million to ‘bridge’ the gap
People hang out outside St. Vincent de Paul Dining Hall, which offers meals to people in need, especially those experiencing homelessness, in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 25, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
When former Rep. Tyler Clancy earlier this month left his last legislative session as a lawmaker and quickly stepped into his new role as state homeless coordinator, he immediately faced a pressing challenge with a fast-approaching deadline.
For the last several years, Utah’s homeless system has relied on about $1 million a month to keep about 670 “overflow” beds open for people experiencing homelessness. The overflow effort started as a way to increase capacity temporarily during cold winter months, but state officials in recent years have worked to keep many of those beds open year-round so as to not force hundreds of people out of shelter and onto the streets each spring.
But come April 30, the one-time money that has kept those overflow beds open is set to expire. And the new infusion of millions of dollars for homelessness the 2026 Utah Legislature approved earlier this year isn’t set to start becoming available until the next fiscal year starts July 1.
So Clancy spent his first few weeks as homeless coordinator putting together a proposal — coined “Project Bridge” — to fill the funding gap from May 1 to June 30 while also laying the groundwork for how the Utah Office of Homeless Services will spend its newly appropriated money.
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The Utah Homeless Services Board — which controls the purse strings for Utah’s homeless system — voted on Tuesday to approve Clancy’s “Project Bridge” plan and $1.1 million out of the office’s flexible fund to keep the overflow beds open.
Clancy told Utah News Dispatch in an interview Tuesday morning he doesn’t want to just keep the “status quo” of the beds themselves, but also ensure that everyone currently using them receives case management to connect them individually with what they need to move out of shelter, whether that’s housing, substance abuse treatment, mental health services, or other pathways.
Project Bridge, Clancy said in a statement issued after the board’s vote, “represents a shift in how the state is responding to homelessness.”
“We are moving beyond simply managing capacity and focusing on ensuring every individual experiencing homelessness has a clear, actionable path toward stability,” he said. “This is about delivering meaningful results for the people we serve.”
That $1.1 million will cover the plan for about a month, Clancy said, meaning he still has work to do to identify another $900,000 or so to fund the second month of the plan.
An inventory of Utah’s 670 ‘overflow’ homeless beds
The following homeless facilities can flex their capacity during winter months to house more people with “overflow” beds. Some facilities, like the West Valley shelter, are now year-round shelters.
The Pamela Atkinson Atkinson Resource Center in South Salt Lake has 75 overflow beds, in addition to its 300 permanent beds. Total capacity: 375 beds.
The Geraldine E. King Women’s Resource Center in Salt Lake City has 50 overflow beds, in addition to its 200 permanent beds. Total capacity: 250.
The Gail Miller Resource Center in Salt Lake City has 50 overflow beds, in addition to its 200 permanent beds. Total capacity: 250.
Switchpoint’s facility in West Valley City has 200 beds. This facility started as winter overflow, but in 2023 began operating as a year-round shelter.
Ville 1990 in Salt Lake City has 210 beds. It was originally funded as permanent supportive housing, but last winter it was temporarily turned into a shelter.
St. Vincent de Paul Dining Hall in Salt Lake City has 65 winter overflow beds.
Volunteers of America’s Youth Resource Center has 20 overflow beds, in addition to its 50 permanent beds. Total capacity: 70 beds.
“We’re still looking for more opportunities in state appropriations, but we’re going to be asking our city, county partners to see if they can match that and so that we can stabilize those beds during this transition period,” Clancy said.
Those local governments could include Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake and West Valley City.
However, Clancy said it’s possible that the full $2 million won’t be needed if there are vacancies in existing housing, or substance abuse or mental health programs that can be filled by people currently using overflow beds.
“If we just kept the status quo, we would need $2 million,” he said. “But there are services that are already operational, that are already functional, that have availability that we’re already funding.”
In West Valley, for example, Switchpoint is currently operating a 200-bed overflow facility, but the residents there don’t receive case management to connect them to other services, he said.
“So we’re hoping to send some teams to West Valley City for Project Bridge and meet with those clients,” Clancy said. “And if a client shares that they’re dealing with substance abuse challenges and addiction, not only are we going to get them a referral … we’re actually going to provide transportation, we’re going to provide warm hand offs, and make sure that we can match people to the individuals to the needs that they have.”
The hope is to create more efficiency within the current system, Clancy said, while he and his team also prepare their proposals on how to spend about $19 million in new ongoing money and $26.6 million in one-time money that the Legislature set aside for the state’s homeless system.
However, the vast majority of that money — about $17.5 million in ongoing and $26 million in one-time funds — comes with a catch.
Lawmakers attached intent language to that funding, saying the Office of Homeless Services can only spend the money if “local governments” put up a one-to-one match to double the funds. And legislators required the office to report their plans to legislative leaders’ powerful Executive Appropriations Committee before spending it.
It remains to be seen which cities or counties will pledge money to double homeless funding to about $35 million in ongoing money and more than $52 million in one-time funds.
“We’re working with legislative leadership and members of the Legislature to understand what might qualify for that one-to-one match, but those discussions will be ongoing through the spring and summer and into the fall as well,” Nick Coleman, assistant homeless coordinator, told board members during their meeting Tuesday.
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Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, who is a member of the Utah Homeless Services Board, said earlier this month that she’s “encouraged” by the new infusion of state dollars for homelessness — but she also hopes the new local match requirement falls on other cities that don’t currently host homeless shelters. She argued that Salt Lake City already spends a “profound” amount on homelessness, to the tune of $25 million a year.
Clancy told Utah News Dispatch he’s looking for partnerships across the state — including outside of Salt Lake City — to help fulfill that match requirement.
“We have amazing local leaders across the state, from from Provo to Price to Logan to Box Elder (County), and we feel confident that this is going to be an opportunity for us to work together,” Clancy said, adding that he’s feeling “confident” and that the conversations thus far “have been overwhelmingly positive.”
“We hope to announce some partnerships soon,” he said. “We don’t want to jump the gun on anything, but it’s definitely been a positive couple of weeks.”
