LIBERTY — The Sullivan County Legislature unanimously passed a resolution during a meeting of the Health and Family Services Committee on Thursday to enter into an agreement for homeless temporary housing services in Liberty.

According to the resolution, the agreement is with Dorm 10, LLC at an amount not to exceed $125,000 for the period of January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.

The location is in close proximity to the Department of Family Services Liberty Human Services Complex, and will provide temporary housing services.

Commissioner of Health and Family Services Joe Todora said this will allow his department to provide mental health and other services to people who present as homeless.

Currently, the department houses homeless people in hotels, motels or apartment buildings that they rent from landlords.

“We can do better on our campus, because I can pull mental health in for some help, I can look at public health and say ‘can you give us some assistance,' and we don't really have that opportunity in the current locations that we are [in],” Todora told the legislators.

Once homeless people are in the intake center, the department works to find them permanent housing in the county. Todora said the average length of time that somebody stays with them is around 40 days, which is less than the state average.

“[We will] be able to assist folks who come to us as homeless and figure out why they're homeless, see what we can do to wrap some supports around them, and then find them an opportunity to live in regular housing in the community,” Todora said.

At the time of the committee meeting, Todora said there are 136 homeless people in the county. He said many of them are single males coming back from prison who don't have housing.

In addition, he said families that come to them are often large (five or six people), which can be more challenging to find housing opportunities of that size. “But our staff does a very nice job of doing that,” he said.

The homeless center had been proposed in Liberty before, but received pushback from the Town Board of Liberty because the location was near Hanofee Park where there is a day camp in the summertime for kids.

The building has been proposed as a homeless center at least as far back as 2015. Currently, there is no homeless center in the county. During the winter months when the temperature goes below freezing, the county along with the Federation for the Homeless, the Village of Monticello and two churches in Liberty provide warming centers open to all.