In Watertown, new help for people struggling with housing

WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWNY) - A team effort in Jefferson County to take care of people struggling with housing is officially underway.

A ribbon cutting Tuesday marked the opening of the CARE Center in Watertown, inside the Impossible Dream store on Factory Street.

The CARE Center is a collaboration of the Watertown Urban Mission, Jefferson County Department of Social Services, Transitional Living Services, Mental Health Association, Community Action Planning Council and Catholic Charities.

The point is to give people one place to go for help in finding and keeping housing.

“If you have unstable housing, where do you go from there? Housing really is the chaos, the engine that drives poverty. So really, stabilizing housing is the first step,” said Dawn Cole, Executive Director of the Urban Mission.

The CARE Center opens to the public Wednesday, just as the federal government’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program is getting started.

The program provides money from the federal government for people who have struggled to pay rent and utilities due to the pandemic.

CARE Center officials say they’ll help those eligible apply.

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