ALBANY COUNTY — An unused wing of the county jail opened on Friday as a homeless shelter for families.

Its first resident was a mother and her 4-year-old child.

Sheriff Craig Apple launched the program, known as SHIP, for Sheriff’s Homeless Improvement Program, four years ago and it has served nearly 500 people, mostly men, since then.

Apple said it had a success rate of 74.5 percent. “The top part of the scale,” Apple said, “is 374 out of 500 people leave here and have a house, a car, a job, and they’re not on government services. That’s success.”

One of those success stories was shared by Cleveland Pringle on Friday morning at a press conference celebrating the new wing.

“I was literally on death’s door,” said Pringle. “I was tired and just wanted to die.”

He did not have a job and he was living in abandoned buildings when a friend told him about the sheriff’s program.

“I haven’t looked back,” he said. “All I have done was look forward … I’m very proud and honored to be part of this program.”

He is back to work now, Pringle said. “So often we always hear so much negativity … And finally, I am part of something good.”

Another success story was shared by Carla Johnson who lives in the SHIP wing. She called it “a safe haven.”

“Nobody has no idea how many people are under trees, under railroads, in cars …. It’s scary,” she said.

She also said, “SHIP saved my life … They have been my family. They will continue to be my family when I walk out them doors.”

Family shelter

About 20 percent of those served by SHIP joined the program when they left the county jail, Apple said.

People who get out of jail, he said, often have nowhere to go. “If you’re in jail for selling drugs, or possession of firearms, or murder, rape, robbery and you get out and you’ve got nowhere to go, what are their chances of doing it again?” asked Apple.

In addition to providing food and shelter, SHIP offers mental-health and addiction services and preparation for job opportunities.

“Many of the folks we’re dealing with have substance-use disorder, a mental-health illness … PTSD,” Apple said, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder, or are victims of domestic violence.

The second wing, with upgrades funded by Broadview Federal Credit Union and a $500,000 federal grant secured through Congressman Paul Tonko, is centered on women and children. It consists of 45 rooms, arranged in suites of three.

New York state is ranked second nationwide for its homeless population, Apple said. “One-hundred-and-fifty-thousand kids in 2024 were homeless every night,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report lists New York state with 158,019 homeless people in 2024, topped only by California at 187,084.

“​​The number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2024 was the highest ever recorded,” the report says. “A total of 771,480 people — or about 23 of every 10,000 people in the United States—experienced homelessness in an emergency shelter, safe haven, transitional housing program, or in unsheltered locations across the country.”

In 2022, CARES of NY Inc. listed 201 homeless people in Albany County in shelters.

“This building, once a place of confinement and hardship has been reimagined as a sanctuary of safety and opportunity,” Apple said, making formal remarks at Firay’s press conference. Both of the converted wings were decommissioned for prison use.

Journalists were able to tour the new wing where bars to cells had been replaced with doors; toys and games were stacked in cupboards; and a bed was made up with a bright comforter — a teddy bear resting against the pillow.

“This shelter will now serve as a place where families can stay together, where mothers and fathers can feel secure, and where children can sleep peacefully surrounded by care and support,” said Apple.

Another area, he said, has computers where residents can perfect writing résumés to get jobs. “We’ve had people leave here with $14,000 in cash,” said Apple.

“Power of community”

Apple called the project “a testament to the power of community” and said, “This is not just a place to stay. It’s a place to rebuild. It’s a place to heal, and to begin again, no matter your story. You will find dignity, respect, and the support you need to thrive.”

“This is just like a dose of hope,” said Tonko, praising Apple for his initiative.

“Home is important for all of us,” Tonko said, as is “that vision of a better tomorrow."

Tonko also said in the just-open legislative session he will be reintroducing a bill that would let incarcerated people who are eligible for Medicaid get addiction services and other needed health care.

“People in the first two weeks of release from incarceration are 129 percent more impacted by the potential for overdose,” said Tonko. “I want to save lives. Here’s a good way for us to step to the plate and save those lives … those who are impacted as our neighbors who are in need of housing, who are housing deficient, and who are fighting the issues of addiction.”

Tonko concluded by thanking Apple and SHIP supporters for “the excellent vision, the excellent implementation of that vision, and the ongoing services that will speak to the dignity of life.”

David Perry, superintendent of the South Colonie school district, said the I Care program lets students go beyond the school day and the school walls “to learn about giving back, to learn about representing their community and making sure that their community is a greater and better place.”

Sheriff Apple said, “Those kids who have come over here have pizza parties for the residents, they raise funds for products for the residents, and they chose us in the ’24-25 school year to be their primary charity to take care of us.”

“We’re transforming lives,” said Michael Castellana, chief executive officer of Broadview, which contributes to the Sheriff’s Homeless Improvement Program.

He noted how cold it has been lately. “We’ve got a home. We’ve got clothes, right?” he said to the officials and reporters who had gathered for the press conference, contrasting it with the cold felt by someone living under an overpass.

Funds from Broadview, he said, “provide on an ongoing basis those things the residents need.”

He announced that Broadview would be providing an additional $20,000 and that he and his wife are personally contributing another $20,000.

“We want to have a $20,000 clothing allowance,” Castellana said, “so that everybody can feel like we feel — comfortable.”