PROVIDENCE – When Ruth “Diamond” Madsen lived on the streets two decades ago, Rhode Island’s homelessness situation was already dire, she recalled.
And while Madsen, who now lives in Pawtucket, hasn’t been homeless for 20 years, the state’s overall housing and homelessness crisis has only gotten worse.
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“It was bad two decades ago,” Madsen said. “It’s deplorable now.”
Amid this crisis, 150 Rhode Islanders currently experiencing homelessness shelter at the Cranston Street Armory, which the state opened as a temporary warming station in late 2022. But on May 15, that shelter will close, Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley recently announced.
In response, more than 50 advocates, some of whom are currently or formerly homeless, gathered outside Providence City Hall on Friday morning to urge Smiley to keep the Armory building open as a shelter until the city releases a concrete plan for alternative housing arrangements.
More than 300 Rhode Islanders spent at least one night on the street or another place not meant for habitation as of the end of last month, according to the state’s Homeless Management Information System.
It’s a figure that becomes even more bleak when considering the state’s vacant buildings, Madsen and fellow advocates said, such as the vacant Superman Building just steps away from City Hall.
In addition to their call to extend the Armory’s shelter services, advocates outlined three demands: A list of vacant, city-owned buildings; pallet emergency beds; and a written guarantee that police will not disturb tent encampments, which advocates cautioned will have an increased presence due to the Armory’s closing. Tent encampments will also require sanitary measures such as portable toilets and handwashing stations, protestors said.
Since the Armory’s opening as a shelter late last year, the building has served more than 700 homeless individuals, said Eric Hirsch, a professor at Providence College and member of the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project.
Following the gathering and protest, advocates entered City Hall for a response from Emily Ward Crowell, Smiley’s chief of staff. Smiley was unavailable to meet at the time, Ward Crowell said.
In a written response distributed at the gathering, Ward Crowell wrote that the city “does not own any properties that would provide safe, accessible housing for 150 people,” and has “been working with the state to find privately owned property to better suport the statewide response to homelessness.”
The city did not immediately provide additional comments after the protest.
But advocates say that officials have made many promises while taking little action.
“We’re sick of hearing people say ‘We’re working on it’ … Do it,” Hirsch said.
Other advocates also highlighted this theme as they addressed the crowd, and while meeting with Ward Crowell.
“This is exactly what neglect looks like,” Terri Wright of Direct Action For Rights And Equality said to the protestors outside City Hall. “This historical housing crisis, homeless crisis we’re experiencing is a direct result of neglect.”
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
