LOWELL —The largest homeless shelter and support organization north of Boston, that provides emergency housing to at least 90 homeless adults, failed back-to-back monthly sanitary code inspections, including its fire suppression systems.
The findings come on the heels of longstanding resident complaints and municipal and community concerns about the health, safety and capacity of the shelter at 193 Middlesex St., in the city’s downtown neighborhood.
Senior Sanitary Code Inspector Jimmy Le told the members of the Board of Health that LTLC failed its March 13 and April 11 inspections. The violations were rated as “critical,” which must be corrected within 10 days or as determined by the Board of Health. However, the findings were not listed on the BOH’s April or May agendas.
“The LTLC had a rodent issue,” Le said, during the Wednesday night meeting at City Hall. “And also, their ANSUL system was not properly working. Typically, when these inspections happen, there’s a third-party inspection that happens. The ANSUL company takes a look at it and tags it … it was red-tagged. There’s some kind of malfunction in it. When we see that, it’s an automatic fail.”
An ANSUL system is a brand-name component that describes kitchen hood fire suppression systems. According to Le’s report to the board, the system was red-tagged as of the March inspection date, but had not been fixed by the reinspection date of April. A red tag indicates a deficiency with the fire suppression systems.
The Sun pulled the Food Establishment Inspection Reports from the Department of Development Services offices at City Hall on Tuesday. The March inspection by Inspector Don Murphy noted that the ANSUL system expired in February.
Murphy returned in April, noting, “Fire suppression system failed inspection – needs hydro test (Red Tagged).”
Finally, at the May 24 inspection, three months later, the system passed its safety inspection. Fire and building inspectors, as well LTLC’s management, attended that inspection.
“As of right now, they’re all set,” Le said.
The South Middlesex Opportunity Council is the operator of the LTLC, and David Cunningham, director of regional program operations, said the agency is committed to being a partner with the city agencies charged with its compliance of health and safety issues.
“Once SMOC received notification of the Board of Health violations cited by Mr. Le, the organization took action to rectify the problems, which resulted in the successful inspection report in May,” Cunningham said by email on Tuesday. “SMOC remains committed to working with the Lowell Board of Health in addressing ongoing maintenance and safety protocols within the Lowell Transitional Living Center.”
The Board of Health falls under the purview of Director of Health and Human Services Lisa Golden, while Development Services is a division of the Department of Planning and Development managed by Director/Assistant City Manager Yovani Baez-Rose. Additionally, Director of Homeless Initiatives Maura Fitzpatrick, who reports to HHS, is tasked with fostering community collaborations that work to prevent and reduce homelessness in the city.
At the April 9 City Council meeting, Mayor Dan Rourke requested the city start conversations with LTLC and other partners to improve housing and services.
“The main concern that I and many other councilors have is the shelter itself — the very difficult condition that it’s in,” Rourke said to City Manager Tom Golden.
In response, SMOC President and CEO Susan Gentili wrote in a letter to Sun editors that “to see the shelter mischaracterized as infested and overrun with pests and trash is disheartening.”
She noted that the organization has invested nearly $1 million in improvements to the property over the past years, including upgrades to bathrooms, laundry, staff areas and emergency egress.
But work remains, Le said, to remediate an almost 200-year-old building that is in constant and extreme daily use.
“Their basem*nt is not really a finished basem*nt and it’s a little tight down there,” he said. “They have laundered clothes in close proximity to dirty-bagged clothes. I was hoping they could separate that a little bit more because bed bugs, they can get anywhere. And in a building that size, it’s a nightmare to deal with.”
Le also told the BOH that clean mattresses that were stored under a water leak had to be disposed.
A shelter resident, who asked not to be named, said that SMOC conducted a top-to-bottom deep cleaning of the building on Tuesday.
“Please note that per your lease agreement, this inspection/repairs/cleaning is mandatory,” read a notice distributed to all units in the five-story complex on Monday. “These are required not just per your occupancy mandates, but the City of Lowell requires them to keep the community up to current health standards.”
“The cleaning went great,” the resident said by text late Tuesday.
As of January, the city had 189 sheltered and 97 unsheltered adults for a total of 286 unhoused people.
