The Tompkins County Legislature voted on Tuesday to change the location of a planned Code Blue shelter in Ithaca.
Code Blue is a state mandate that requires counties to provide a warm place to stay on nights when the temperature drops below freezing.
The county’s only permanent shelter closed in 2024. That organization also ran the area’s Code Blue program, leaving the county responsible for providing the service.
The county and city said last month that they would run the Code Blue program and the city’s planned Homeless Services Navigation Hub at the same property, a former Burger King on Elmira Road. The city said the services hub could offer amenities including wifi, showers and hygiene products and connections to supportive services.
On Tuesday, legislators voted to change the plan. The Code Blue program will now operate out of a location on Cherry Street. The county plans to build a permanent emergency shelter there in the coming years.
The day before the county legislature voted on the issue, Ithaca Mayor Robert Cantelmo expressed his disappointment with the move.
“The City will now need to reconsider its approach in light of the County’s timeline and budgetary concerns, which have ultimately brought the collaboration to a halt,” Cantelmo wrote in a statement.
He said he would urge the Ithaca Common Council to reauthorize the city’s working group on the issue.
Cantelmo said the city will “evaluate a scaled-down navigation hub model” in addition to working to address the root causes of homelessness. He said they would work to reduce reliance on a city-owned property known as Southwest Park, where people experiencing homelessness are currently allowed to camp.
County officials said they changed the location to make sure that the shelter will be ready before freezing weather hits. They said renovations to the original property would have been costly and that there was a possibility the building would not have been ready in time.
“Our job is to protect people on the first freezing night and to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Tompkins County Legislature Chair Dan Klein said in a statement. “Cherry Street delivers both, and we welcome the city to join us there with its Navigation Hub.”