‘Drugs, alcohol, needles’: Homeless staying at Warwick motel brace for 55 more

Daniel Coates,

WARWICK, R.I. (WLNE) — In the coming weeks, roughly 55 people will flock to temporary housing offered at the Motel 6 off of Jefferson Boulevard in Warwick. With 40 homeless already living there, many fear the facility will be overrun.

ABC 6 News spoke with many already at the Motel 6. Danny Campos has lived at the motel since April, after he left the Cranston Street Armory.

“The place was horrible,” said Campos about his memory of the Armory. “Just a lot of drugs, alcohol, needles being passed around, people going outside to use the urinal.”

Another resident at the motel named Robert asked, “You see how the armory is, what do you think is going to happen here?”

He continued, “I anticipate chaos if they are coming here. Fights and drugs, fights and drugs — that’s what they are going to bring here.”

Warwick Mayor Frank Picozzi is asking the state to now pitch in. The city and Rhode Island are now in talks for compensation.
“We’re stretched thin,” said Picozzi. “We have to worry about public safety for all residents. so we can’t be shorthanded because of calls there.”
Warwick police say they have fielded 129 calls from the motel since April 1.
Picozzi added, “It’s not like that place is the Crown Plaza, we have always had issues there.”
Residents among the 40 homeless already at the hotel voiced increased frustration at the lack of permanent housing solutions.
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