Salt Lake's mayor says it's time for Gov. Mike Leavitt to step in and help find a place for homeless men to sleep this winter.
Mayor Deedee Corradini and others have asked Leavitt, who is the commander and chief of the Utah National Guard, to use his emergency powers to open an armory for homeless men this winter.Advocates for the homeless approached Gov. Mike Leavitt about three weeks ago about using one of Salt Lake County's armories for an emergency shelter for homeless men when no other site could be found.
When that request was met with a "no," Corradini wrote Leavitt a letter Monday asking him to rethink the idea.
Corradini said Tuesday that homelessness is a statewide problem and Salt Lake City has stepped to the plate often enough.
"We've hit a crisis point," Corradini said. "Our only solution is to ask for the help of the Governor and the National Guard."
Leavitt's staff says he's committed to the homeless problem and they continue to "brainstorm" for a solution. But Army Brigadier Gen. Phill Peay says there are just too many security concerns to allow an armory to be used as a homeless shelter.
"The security issue is a biggie," said Peay, who oversees the state's 38 armories. "We have vaults in every armory packed with weapons."
The armories were just one possibility discussed by the Long Range Planning Committee for the Shelter Needs of Homeless People, which has looked at 56 buildings in search of a men's shelter without success.
But the armory idea was one the committee still had some hope in, said Pamela Atkinson, co-chairwoman of the committee. The armory in Murray was the committee's first choice, because of its location on State Street and nearby bus lines.
Staff from Corradini's office spoke with Leavitt's chief of staff Bob Gross on Monday to discuss the issue further.
Leavitt spokeswoman Vicki Varela said it would be very difficult to free up an armory to house homeless men.
"We're trying to figure out what we can offer financially and equipment wise," Varela said. "We've been in discussion for weeks deciding what we can bring to this problem."
But in her letter to Leavitt, Corradini asked the governor to give the idea his "most serious and immediate attention."
Because the armories are owned by the federal government and not the state, Leavitt would have to declare a state of emergency or enter into some type of federal-state agreement with the National Guard to use an armory.
In addition to the security issue, Peay said putting homeless men in an armory would displace community groups, like youth basketball, which use the facilities when they aren't being used to train soldiers
"This is an idea that's been tried in other states. It was tried in California and New York and it was a total disaster," Peay said.
Peay said if Leavitt used an armory for any reason other than what it was built for - training soldiers - the state would have to repay the federal government.
Corradini's chief of staff Kay Christensen said the city is frustrated because officials feel they've done more than their fair share to solve the homeless problem.
Two years ago, Salt Lake donated a building for the family overflow shelter. Last winter, city officials tried to calm the fears of business owners near the family emergency overflow shelter at 1515 S. 400 West by promising the solution was only temporary.
The city stepped in again this year, donating the old Silver State building at 600 S. 250 East for homeless families when another site couldn't be found. The city fixed the roof and added sprinklers, in addition to moving city employees into other facilities.
"We've done what we can do," Christensen said.