Swift action in Dutchess County resulted in some 160 people who were otherwise homeless now having a facility to call their temporary home.

What You Need To Know


  • Dutchess County repurposed a temporary housing unit at the Dutchess County Jail, otherwise called a POD, to be used to house the homeless in the county

  • This effort is a partnership between the County Executive's office, Hudson River Housing, and Mental Health America of Dutchess County

  • The facility will remain open on the grounds of the jail for as long as the public health crisis continues

"[On] March 21, we were able to mobilize the county, Hudson River Housing and (Mental Health America) to move and combine our overnight shelter and our daytime shelter together at one location," said Andrew O'Grady, chief executive officer of Mental Health America of Dutchess County.

It's a much-needed program to keep this population safe.

“Now instead of people going from one location to another, they are in one location, and it can be there 24/7,” he said.

The temporary housing unit, located on the grounds of the Dutchess County Jail, was turned into a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week shelter, after County Executive Marc Molinaro signed an emergency order on March 14 allowing this to move forward.

"We created a home, not just shelter, but real housing support that has worked to provide help to people who need it the most," said Molinaro.

The facility is run by staff from Hudson River Housing and Mental Health America of Dutchess County. Each run their own homeless shelters that operated at different times during the day, prior to COVID-19.

"There are barriers to people taking a step up the rung toward independent housing, if they have to kind of uproot themselves every day," O'Grady said.

And Molinaro agrees.

"There are a good number now [who are] accepting drug addiction treatment. There are [a] good number now who are connected with mental health support, and by having that constant connection over a 24-hour period, we're creating relationships," he said.

The county is learning from this experiment.

"We might have a model moving forward, that can help people move from homelessness [to] temporary housing to housing security," he said.

The shelter has had its share of positive COVID-19 cases, but they were able to quickly isolate those individuals to prevent the spread of the disease.

"Because of a team effort with Mental Health America, Hudson River Housing, Dutchess Outreach, and so many others, we've made it work," Molinaro said.

The facility will remain open on the grounds on the Dutchess County jail for as long as the public health crisis continues.