A little more than a year after SMOC closed its Common Ground shelter as part of a long-term plan to end homelessness, the social service agency will unveil the second phase this morning.
Officials from South Middlesex Opportunity Council will talk about their proposal for ending homelessness across MetroWest during a forum at the MetroWest Health Care Foundation offices at 9:30 a.m.
The forum will be co-hosted by the United Way of Tri-County and health care foundation and is expected to run about 90 minutes. Town Manager Julian Suso and Human Services Coordinator Alexis Silver are expected to attend, along with either Police Chief Steven Carl or Deputy Chief Ken Ferguson.
It is unclear whether elected officials were invited to the forum.
"We want to understand what's going on," said Martin Cohen, president of the MetroWest Health Care Foundation. Cohen doesn't know what the second phase of SMOC's plan will include, he said, but he's interested to hear about it.
The second phase, said SMOC Executive Director Jim Cuddy, involves switching Roland's Place, the former Greater Marlborough Shelter, to supportive housing and combining the operations of its Worcester programs so there's no overlap.
SMOC closed the downtown Common Ground wet shelter at 105 Irving St. in October 2006, leading to the creation of the Common Ground Resource Center on Merchant Road.
The move started what SMOC calls "a new model of providing housing and services to homeless individuals and those individuals that are at risk of becoming homeless in our community."
The new approach has required SMOC to reallocate its resources and add more staff. Support for the new approach, which moves away from shelters and opens more permanent living opportunities, came from several agencies, said Cuddy.
"We've done everything we said we were going to do," he said. "So far, the results have been very impressive."
The supporting agencies include the United Way, MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation, the state Department of Transitional Assistance, state Department of Mental Health, Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership and the Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance.
(Craig MacCormack can be reached at or .)
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