ROCHESTER, N.Y. — More than a year after the City of Rochester’s only sanctioned homeless encampment got nearly $1 million, not much has happened.

In February 2023, Rochester City Council earmarked $750,000 of unspent taxpayer money for Peace Village just off of West Broad Street near West Main. 

However, a year and a half later, the camp is unchanged, covered with trash, tires, and weeds.

“It may be something that gets delayed a little bit, but I’m hopeful we can get this done in the next several months,” said City Council President Miguel Melendez.

Melendez has been passionate about the project from the start. 

He said he’s confident and hopeful the public can expect change in 2025.

“We did allocate money to purchase pallet shelters, which we have, and they’re in storage,” he said. “They’re ready to be assembled, there’s some site preparation work that’s been done on behalf of the Neighborhood Business Development team on behalf of the city, so they’re looking to do some site improvements before installing the shelters.”

In the 10 minutes News10NBC was there, the city garbage truck came by to pick up a mound of trash. A city spokesperson said they are on a ‘light’ schedule with pick-up here.

But Peace Village isn’t on city property. It’s private land. 

So who’s in charge of all this?

“There’s really three entities having conversations, Peace Village Inc, Person Centered Housing Options Inc., and City Roots Land Trust because they own the parcel,” said Melendez.

Peace Village Inc. lost its nonprofit status for not filing a required tax form for three years. The hiccup could take several months to bounce back from.

Person Centered Housing Options told News10NBC over the phone it doesn’t want the public to lose sight of the collaborative effort. Adding, the setback isn’t stopping them from their day-to-day outreach, helping people find housing.

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