Laconia cold weather, low-barrier homeless shelter to open

LACONIA — The City of Laconia will have a low-barrier cold weather shelter to offer safety to those who are experiencing homelessness. The initiative is a result of public concern about the growing homelessness issue, and the work of Laconia’s Homelessness Task Force led by Mayor Andrew Hosmer, and recent community-wide discussions led by Laconia Police Detective Eric Adams and Navigating Recovery’s Daisy Pierce.

The shelter will be open during significant or extreme weather conditions and will have capacity to house up to 30 people between the hours of 7 p.m. to 8 a.m., from Dec. 1, through April 1, 2023.

This effort is possible through funding from the Department of Health and Human Services Homeless Assistance and Prevention, and the collaborative efforts of several community nonprofit partners: city officials, the Laconia Police Department, Navigating Recovery, the Partnership for Public Health, and Isaiah’s Café.

Lakes Region Mental Health Center will manage staffing and operations of the shelter, because of their successful history managing one of the state’s two COVID shelters for the homeless during the pandemic. LRMHC has hired a shelter manager and will begin recruiting shelter workers to staff the facility. LMRHC has enjoyed a lengthy partnership with DHHS with contracts for services since it’s incorporation in 1966.

For more information contact LRMHC at 603-524-1100 or email klegsdin@lrmhc.org.