Uneven Support: Why does the Salvation Army warming center cost 5x as much as Grace Space?
“We want to build a community where homelessness is rare.”
This is a goal of the Cortland County Housing and Homelessness Coalition and likely one that most in the community supports. To reach that goal, the Coalition, comprised of non-profit organizations, community groups, and city and county officials, recognizes that work on long-term projects must be coupled with assistance to those who need help now. A first step was the creation of Grace Space. Grace Space, located in the basement of Grace and Holy Spirit Church on Court Street in Cortland, served as a low-barrier daytime space for those experiencing homelessness from November 2024 - April 2025.
Matt Whitman, Executive Director of the Rural Health Institute (RHI) and chair of the Coalition, presented at a FOCUS Cortland session on June 19, 2025 to provide an update on Grace Space, sharing data and lessons learned. Grace Space was presented as "a pilot program” to explore what was possible in the community as well as to gather better data on the population and what was needed moving forward. By all accounts, Grace Space was a success and filled a critical service to the unhoused population as well as to the overall Cortland community.
The center provided a comfortable space for visitors to rest and sleep, to access bathrooms, showers and laundry facilities, to access WiFi and phone chargers, and to eat. Staff from non-profit service agencies, such as Catholic Charities and CAPCO, were available in the space to help visitors connect to additional services, if requested. CAPCO housed a “pop-up” version of their Family Essentials program in the space and distributed 6,500 items. JM Murray distributed 2,600 hygiene kits.
While a formal check-in process took a while to fully implement, data from February through April 2025 showed 253 unique visitors to Grace Space, with an average of 40-50 visitors a day.
RHI survey data on Grace Space visitors showed:
65% of visitors were male; 35% female, which was in line with national homelessness data
67% of visitors surveyed lived in the Cortland area for 5 years or more
Most common age cohort was those aged 45 or older; next most common age cohort was ages 35-44
Most self-reported disabilities were mental health disorders and substance use disorders
One measure that RHI used to assess the success of Grace Space was the number of calls to the Cortland Police Department (CPD) from the Cortland library. In the winter season prior to the opening of Grace Space, CPD received 95 calls from the library. In the season while Grace Space was operating, CPD received 35 calls, a 65% reduction.
Costs and Challenges
Grace Space raised $132,000 from philanthropic community organizations, private donors, and other churches and religious groups. The center received in-kind donations, including staff at times, from the partner non-profit groups in the coalition. Mr. Whitman recognized that staffing was always a challenge.
Billable expenses for Grace Space for the 2024-2025 season totaled approximately $95,000, less than total funds raised.
The total projected expense for the Salvation Army warming center for the 2025-2026 season is $518,700 plus an additional $25,000 to rent a space when the Salvation Army is not available, making the total cost $543,700. A resolution to approve this total cost, including the addition of an unarmed, plain clothes security guard for the Salvation Army, is moving to the full County Legislature on June 26.
As I shared in my previous post, the County is mandated by New York State to provide a warming center when temperatures are below 32 degrees F. While the County Office Building serves as the default daytime warming center, this space is rarely utilized as visitors have to go through metal detectors and simply sit in the Department of Social Services waiting room space. The Salvation Army has contracted with the County to provide the overnight and weekend warming center in the past and is preparing to do so again for the 2025-2026 season.
But why does the Salvation Army center cost five times as much as Grace Space?
We are likely talking about assistance for the exact same population of people who spent the daytime hours at Grace Space and then walked a few blocks over to Main Street to the Salvation Army overnight.
Staffing is certainly a challenge. As I shared publicly during Mr. Whitman’s presentation, I hope that wages for staff at the Salvation Army warming center contribute to the high cost since it is challenging and critical work. A Warming Center Assistant job posting on Indeed.com indicates $22/hour for the part-time position at the Salvation Army. Perhaps the presence of a security guard will assist in both recruiting and retaining staff at the warming center. While Mr. Whitman said he could think of “10 other things” to suggest before a security guard, safety should be high priority. And it is probably unrealistic and unreasonable for a part-time, overnight warming center assistant (which requires only a high school diploma or equivalent) to be proficient in deescalation techniques and possess the ability to diffuse crisis situations.
While Grace and Holy Spirit church likely donated the use of church space for Grace Space, the Salvation Army undoubtedly is being compensated simply for the use of the space above the labor and direct costs of operating the warming center. And perhaps if you’re the only organization willing to operate it, you get to set the cost.
The uncomfortable reality is that no other non-profit organization or county department has the interest — or staff, space, and resources — to run the overnight code blue warming center. If the Salvation Army pulled out of the contract, the County would be mandated by NYS to run the center itself, which is what occurred in Tompkins County. How cost effective would it be if the county was forced to run it?
What’s Ahead?
The solid attendance numbers at the FOCUS Cortland presentation demonstrated that there are a good deal of community members who care deeply. The appreciation for the Coalition’s work and for Grace Space was evident. Even if it is not mandated by NYS, the clearly community wants — and the unhoused population needs — a space (ideally year-round) where those in need can get their basic needs met with dignity.
However, Grace and Holy Spirit Church has not committed to hosting Grace Space for the 2025-2026 season, and after hearing the information at the FOCUS Cortland presentation as well as the information shared at the County Health and Human Services Committee meeting, it really should not be a surprise. Why should Grace Space and/or the Coalition be forced to fund-raise close to $100,000 annually with no City or County financial support? Why would the Grace and Holy Spirit congregation donate their church space indefinitely while the Salvation Army (also a worship center) be compensated so unevenly? While there was initially great support and funding to start Grace Space, it is likely unrealistic to count on that level of support year after year.
While Mr. Whitman was professional in his remarks that there is “no energy” from local government to fund a shelter or permanent daytime space, one can read between the lines that City Common Council and the County Legislature have basically turned the issue over to the non-profit sector to solve. Advocacy is needed to remind our legislators of their role to be pro-active in solving problems — not simply reacting to problems and griping about the cost.
The amended budget and agreement with the Salvation Army for the upcoming code blue season is on the June 26 County Legislative Agenda (agenda no. 20; pg. 17 of link). If you feel so moved to speak on the issue, you can do so during Privilege of the Floor. The meeting will be on Thursday, June 26 at 6 pm in the 3rd floor board room of the County Office Building. Each person speaking is allowed 5 minutes.