Willimantic Shelter Without A Home

By Michelle Warren, The Chronicle

June 4, 2021

Following the end of an agreement with the landlord Tuesday, the Windham Region No Freeze Project staff are working with town staff to find a new home.

As Windham Town Manager Jim Rivers said during the town council meeting Tuesday, any moves would need to be authorized by the planning and zoning commission.

In a May 14 letter to Rivers and Windham Mayor Thomas DeVivo, the Windham Region No Freeze Project Board of Directors said the planning and zoning commission informed them zoning approval for the shelter is restricted to the B1A and B4 zones.

They said there are currently no buildings available to purchase or rent in the B4 zone.

“We recognize and support the economic development efforts of Windham/Willimantic,” the letter states.

“We are completely open to finding an appropriate and mutually acceptable site that is not in the town’s designated economic corridor. However, without support from town leadership, we will be unable to find a suitable site.”

The shelter, which offers people a place to stay from November to April, has been looking for a new home since 2019.

Currently, the shelter is at 75 Bridge St., where it has been for many years.

Citing safety concerns, violence and disruption, the landlord, Michael Haddad, asked the shelter to leave the building by Dec. 31, 2019.

However, the shelter was allowed to stay in that location per an agreement with Haddad. Windham Region No Freeze Project Executive Director Avery Lenhart said the shelter has been operating on a month-to-month basis and did not have a lease in place.

Staff at the shelter requested a meeting with town staff to discuss the issue.

“We did meet with them again after this letter,” Rivers said. “We’ve met with them quite a few times, especially in recent years because their status at their current location has been tenuous at best.”

He said this morning staff suggested some possible locations in the hospital area, which is the proper zone.

However, Rivers said, shelter staff did not think those locations were suitable.

“This is an old problem and we’re trying to work through it,” he said.

Rivers did not identify the locations, noting the properties are for rent or for sale.

Lenhart said Haddad has plans for the space and wants to “move on” and said they “don’t want to stand in the way of that.”

In 2020, shelter staff were considering moving to a larger space at 1120 Main St., the former location of Eastern Eye Care Optical.

However, the property owner, Bob Dibble, sold that property to another interested party.

That sale followed objections from the PZC that the proposed location was on Main Street. Lenhart said staff also proposed being in a former medical office building on Ivanhill Street a couple years ago, a location the PZC also rejected, feeling it was not in an inappropriate zone. For the time being, Lenhart said the plan is to possibly relocate the offices and shower services while staff search for a permanent location.

“We don’t know where yet,” Lenhart said.

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