New high-capacity homeless shelter will have pros and cons, state homeless coordinator says

SALT LAKE CITY — A new, high-capacity homeless shelter is coming, but some worry it may run into the same problems that have plagued past shelters.

State Homeless Coordinator Wayne Niederhauser confirmed it could take up to a year to choose the location of the $25 million, Legislature-funded shelter.

The shelter is set to have 1,200 beds.

Some fear that the planned shelter could repeat the problems seen at the 1,100-bed Rio Grande shelter. Several years ago, the Homeless Services Site Evaluation Committee recommended its closure in favor of scattered shelters with smaller populations.

But Niederhauser said data from the past few winters shows there’s a need. Smaller shelters have had to turn people away.

“There’s some pros to that, there’s some cons [to a large facility] and we have our scattered site. But we’ll have the best of both worlds.”