To the editor:
Regarding the recent letter from former Mayor Anthony Salvo concerning the Salem Mission ("Shelter shouldn't be forced on people," Wednesday, July 15):
First of all, we have no plans to use the former St. Mary's Church for shelter beds. We made that clear in 2004 when we bought the property, and it remains true today.
Our plans are to maintain the exterior of the building and convert the inside to 20 apartments. We have also undertaken to maintain the grotto and any internal features that the state allows us to keep.
The new tenants of the apartments will be people who were homeless, but once they move in, sign a lease and pay rent — which they all will do — they are no longer homeless people. Many people are unemployed at some point and then find work, but they are no longer referred to as "formerly unemployed" people. Thus our tenants should be regarded as the contributing members of our community they seek to be, rather than forever being referred to as "formerly homeless."
Secondly, the assumption that anybody who drinks publicly is homeless and, by extension, the responsibility of the Mission, is not factual.
A guest of the Mission must be sober and drug-free. The underlying philosophy of the Mission is to help people get back on their feet by providing them with the support services they need. Anybody who stays at the Mission has to undertake to attend programs designed individually to achieve that goal. Working toward those goals is a condition of staying in the shelter.
Thirdly, shelters are not the solution to homelessness; the solution to homelessness is the provision of housing with supportive services on site. This last point is key.
In the early days of the Salem Task Force on Homelessness, one of its members, who had no connection with the Mission, explained that the reason Salem has a homeless problem was that it was the location of the Essex County court system, had a train station and a hospital, and had a tourist industry. The Salem Mission was established to deal with an existing problem in Salem; it did not create the problem.
The Salem Mission is committed to reducing and eventually eliminating its shelter. Upon completion of the apartments, we will reduce the number of shelter beds. Thus our plans will lead directly to a reduction in the number of homeless people on our campus.
Finally, there appears to be a misunderstanding about the way the Mission is funded. Our total budget is around $1 million, and we fund that equally from the public and private sectors. Most of our public funding comes from federal and state sources. The only funds we receive from the City of Salem are part of its Community Development Block Grant funds. These are funds that are allocated to Salem by the federal government and do not form part of Salem's annual budget. In the last fiscal year, Salem received just over $1.1 million in CDBG funds, of which the Salem Mission received $17,200.
The Mission does, however, receive the active support of many elected officials and city employees and this we greatly appreciate.
The Salem Mission purchased the St. Mary's building from the archdiocese in 2004. We have stated that we will entertain an offer from the arts group to purchase the building, and we intend to honor our commitment to consider seriously any offer made in line with the terms outlined in our letter to Mr. Cultrera in May. In a meeting with representatives of the arts group, we went through line by line what the monetary value was of each of the criteria we outlined.
Recently, we were invited by Mr. Cultrera to participate in a panel discussion about the future use of the church. We are very keen to join in such a discussion, as we believe it can only lead to a better understanding of the work we are doing.
Before we join such a discussion, the Mission board plans to view Mr. Cultrera's documentary on the church in order to gain a better understanding of its significance within the community. In like manner, we have invited members of the panel, including former Mayor Salvo, to visit the Mission and be given a tour of our facility and a description of the work we are doing.
With both groups better informed, we believe a panel discussion, moderated by an independent person, can only be beneficial to all concerned. Those who accept our offer of a tour invariably express their amazement at the work we do. It is that work that has enabled us, in the last year alone, to move 70 individuals out of homelessness and into permanent housing.
Finally, the Mission has already moved ahead with the commitments made at the City Council meeting in June. We have elected Seth Doolin, a resident of Prescott Street, to the board, and anticipate that the new neighborhood committee, set up to work through any and all issues relating to our operations, will start meeting in August.
Through all these initiatives, we seek to continue to work with our neighbors as we also strive to improve the lives of those in our midst whose need is the greatest.
Andrew Oliver
President, Salem Mission
Salem
