Year Round Emergency Shelter

Shelter location:
14 Walworth Street
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
The year-round emergency shelter provides temporary shelter for up to 23 people at the Walworth Street facilities in Saratoga Springs. The congregate-style shelter offers a safe, home-like environment for guests while they work toward financial, health, and housing stability. Critical to a person’s success is self-determination combined with 24 hours/day staff support. Guests work with a case manager to develop a housing plan that addresses their individual needs and forms the foundation for which independent living can be sustained. (Partially funded by the Local Department of Social Services, private foundations and contributors; and nightly shelter rent if able).

Support Offered

The shelter serves the needs of an average of 125 people each year.

• Assistance with accessing benefits
• Resume writing and job searches
• Independent daily living skills
• Budgeting and household finances
• Referrals to supportive services (substance recovery, mental health care, clinical care)
• Housing navigation
• Rental and moving assistance

Code Blue Winter Shelter

The goal of Code Blue is to provide people with winter shelter and safety from the cold. Our program offers nightly meals, transitions to our emergency shelter, and stabilization resources, if desired. 

2023-24 shelter location:
120 Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

ABOUT CODE BLUE:
Shelters of Saratoga contracts with Saratoga County, and the NYS Office of Temporary Disability Assistance, to operate the county’s low-barrier winter homeless shelter from November until April.

HISTORY:
The Code Blue low-barrier shelter opened in December 2013 in response to the tragic freezing death of Nancy Pitts, a community member facing homelessness. 

In January 2016, NYS signed Executive Order 151, Emergency Measures for the Homeless During Inclement Winter Weather. Later adopted to the NYS Register – the regulation mitigates the effects of inclement winter weather, and the resulting impacts of such weather on individuals experiencing homelessness, as the responsibility of each social service district. 

For the first three years, Shelters of Saratoga served as the fiscal agent for the program. The program was fully integrated under the SOS umbrella in 2017. Planning, budgeting, and reporting are done in partnership with Saratoga County Department of Social Services. 

The program has operated out of multiple temporary facilities since it began. Three proposals to site a permanent shelter have been blocked.

WHAT’S OFFERED:
On average, 200 individuals seek winter refuge each season. Our program goes above and beyond the NYS mandate, which provides overnight shelter. We offer nightly dinners and resource navigation to our guests. Transitions into our emergency shelter, supportive housing, and linkage to treatment are offered. 

2022-23 Highlights

• 61 nightly cots, first-come, first-served basis 
• 271 unduplicated guests
• Open for 169 nights
• Average length of stay: 38 nights 
• 11,125 meals served, donated by local businesses and organizations

  
  Outcomes:

  Housing: 23 guests, Emergency Shelter: 22 guests, Treatment: 12 guests

The program is funded in part by The New York State Office of Temporary Disability Assistance (OTDA), with support from private contributors.