Beacon House, a new group home which opened on Monday, was created by Adirondack Housing Development Corporation to address that challenge. It allows people more time to find a permanent home and takes pressure off Samaritan House, which is currently full and anticipating more residents as winter starts.

Beacon House is a newly restored four-bedroom home in Saranac Lake that’s been converted to be housing for people who have addressed the issues that led to their homelessness, but cannot find an apartment because of the affordable housing crisis.

“There’s times where folks get to Samaritan House, they get stabilized and they have the ability to move on, but there’s just no places for them to move on to,” Murphy said.

“Local housing shortages have been a stumbling block for graduates who want to move on,” according to the Ecumenical Council of Saranac Lake’s website.

Volunteers Sarah Gibson and Bobby Birmingham work at restoring the Beacon House, a home in Saranac Lake for people transitioning out of homelessness. (Provided photo — Housing Starts Here)

The Beacon House was created through a partnership of AHDC subsidiary Housing Starts Here LLC, Samaritan House, Lakeside House and the Saranac Lake Ecumenical Council, and welcomed its first resident on Monday.

“(She) stepped into her new home carrying a box filled mostly with books, an unexpected but simple reminder of the life she is building,” AHDC CEO Patrick Murphy said in a statement. “After choosing a bedroom with the best morning sun, so that she can continue her daily yoga routine, she expressed quiet relief at having a safe place to call home.”

Murphy called Beacon House a “bridge” — when someone’s ready to move on after completing the Samaritan House program, there’s a place waiting for them.

“By removing the pressure of a move-out deadline, Beacon House enables residents to heal, rebuild and grow in a stable, healthy environment on their path to finding permanent housing,” Murphy said.

He said the idea grew out of conversations people were having in the housing and homelessness circles.

One of the rooms inside Beacon House. (Provided photo — Housing Starts Here)

The Samaritan House shelter on River Street is filled up right now. The shelter’s eight beds are usually over maximum capacity during the cold months, Murphy said.

Since opening in 2017, the shelter has served nearly 500 people and boasts a “graduation” rate of 85 to 90%.

The Beacon House is also meant to relieve the pressure on Samaritan House. It will allow them to open beds more often. On the same day Beacon House got its first resident, someone new moved into her former room at Samaritan House, Murphy said.

He said there are several more Samaritan House residents ready to move in the near future.

Beacon House has benchmarks for financial, mental, communal living and long-term stability to make sure applicants are a good fit for the transitional home and to make sure they’re ready to take that step.

One of the rooms inside Beacon House. (Provided photo — Housing Starts Here)

On Monday, Murphy said he felt proud of all the work the community put in to making Beacon House a welcoming place.

The house rehab was done entirely through private funds, with the Cloudsplitter Foundation contributing “a generous portion.” Murphy said community members also volunteered more than 60 hours of hands-on work to restoring the home and donated essential household items. He was impressed with the number of people willing to help people they might not know, but who are still their neighbors.

“Most people who enter Beacon House are arriving with almost nothing,” Murphy said. “Our community understood that and stepped up to create that ‘soft landing,’ ensuring residents feel supported from the moment they walk through the door. … Several churches and faith communities across the region contributed bedding, decor, kitchenware and household items, with some even adopting rooms to rehab and furnish.”

They redid the electrical wiring, remodeled the ceilings, installed a security system and made the place cozy with couches, rugs, lamps, mirrors and dressers.

The Ecumenical Council of Saranac Lake, which operates Samaritan House, is providing operational funding for Beacon House’s day-to-day needs. Murphy said they’ve offered to cover the gap if the new housing operation runs at a deficit or goes over budget in any year.

They are also partnered with Lakeside House, which supports people with mental illness or addiction, to provide case managers at Beacon House.

Murphy said this opening comes “at a time when state and federal homelessness resources are increasingly uncertain.”

Federally, there is a “realignment of the philosophy on addressing homelessness,” he said. Last week, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced policy changes moving away from a “housing first” approach to focus on people meeting work requirements and drug testing first.

HUD’s “Continuum of Care” permanent housing program is set to lose more than half of its funding, with that money shifting to programs focusing on temporary housing with mental health and addiction treatment, as well as more work requirements and drug testing. Overall HUD spending on homelessness is going up, but an analysis of HUD documents by POLITICO found that 170,000 currently in the program are at risk of losing their homes due to the tight funding turnaround these cuts leave. HUD stated that the previous policies “perpetuated homelessness” and did not promote self-sufficiency.

Personally, Murphy said “housing first” is a proven model. Get people off the streets and meet their basic needs, stabilize them and then let them work on the other parts of their life, he said.

To him, housing is the most important thing to find stability in recovering from addiction, mental health problems or unemployment. It’s literally the base of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This psychological hierarchy is visualized as a pyramid. In order to reach things like self-fulfillment, self-respect or meaningful relationships near the top of the pyramid, a foundation of shelter, water, food and safety must be laid at the bottom.

“To have someone be able to get to the point where they can think critically about their future and about how they want to contribute in their community, if they’re hungry, or cold or out on the streets, how well do you think they’re going to be able to think intentionally and critically like that?” Murphy asked. “We need to have a little compassion and empathy.”

Murphy is also the executive director of the Harrietstown Housing Authority, which is overseen by HUD and operates the Lake Flower Apartments and Algonquin Apartments and runs a Section Eight rental assistance voucher program. He said half of HHA’s operating budget comes from the federal government, and they are currently expected to lose 25% of their capital fund grant and 10% of their operating grant.

The capital fund is used to maintain the apartment complexes, which are both old buildings. The voucher federal funding was renewed at the prior year’s amount.

“It’s good it’s not being cut, but it’s as good as a cut, because rents have increased,” Murphy said.

Rent in the Tri-Lakes rose by 10% in the past year, he said.

They still have same number of people they support with vouchers. With higher rents but the same amount of money, they’ll have to offer fewer vouchers. This puts more people at risk of homelessness.

Murphy feels Beacon House is a model for how rural regions like the North Country can address homelessness through creativity and collaboration.

“This project proves that the solutions are here,” he said. “They come from strong local partnerships — like those with Samaritan House, Lakeside House and the Ecumenical Council — and from the belief that everyone deserves a safe place to call home.”