ITHACA, NY (607NewsNow) – Tompkins County’s efforts to address homelessness are ongoing.

In his 2025 State of the County Address last week, Legislative Chair Dan Klein said many of this year’s challenges will be similar to last year’s.

Klein refers to the shelter in the former Key Bank building in Ithaca, which the county only learned would be necessary in mid-October after St. John’s Homeless Shelter informed officials it would cease operating. There has been criticism about the conditions at the Code Blue shelter from various groups and members of the public, and it could be slated for deconstruction or demolition as part of the Center of Government building project.

Chair Dan Klein delivers his 2025 State of the County Address at the 1/21/25 meeting of the Tompkins County Legislature

Another possible location for the 2025-2026 Code Blue shelter is an existing building on Cherry Street that Facilities Director Arel LeMaro has said would be a potential short-term candidate. It’s on a roughly one-acre property on Ithaca’s west end the county agreed to acquire in November as a future site for a permanent homeless shelter.

Work at the Cherry Street site will also ramp up this year.

 

Klein added the county recently hired a consultant to help with the design, financing, permitting, and development of the property. That consultant will work with a team of non-profit agencies, community members, and people with lived experiences of homelessness.

As for the county’s Center of Government building project, Klein said expect ‘significant progress.’

“We also have an upcoming capital project with our Public Safety Building that we hope to see progress on this year,” said Klein. “Again, we won’t see any actual building yet, but hopefully we will come out of 2025 with a clearer picture of that project than we have coming into this year.”

Klein additionally discussed ambulance services, cannabis enforcement, the future of the airport, broadband expansion, and more.

“The state of the county is excellent, and at the same time there are plenty of areas that need a lot of attention and need a lot of help. We are doing a lot, and there is a lot more to do,” said Klein.

You can watch the full 2025 State of the County Address here.