Closure of hotel has groups worried

PROVO (AP) — The future is uncertain for a downtown hotel where thousands of homeless people through the years have gone to escape the streets.

Hotel Roberts' owners Jo Ann and Scott Mills closed for the winter on Nov. 1 because of escalating heating costs, and there are fears it might not reopen.

The winter closing left organizations scrambling to place about 20 clients in other hotels.

"We did expend a significant amount of funds to get these people taken care of," said Brent Crane, executive director of the Food and Care Coalition, an organization that serves meals and offers programs for those in the area that face critical poverty.

The closure of the 67-room hotel highlights the need for better housing resources in Utah Valley, Crane said.

For at least 12 years, service organizations have housed homeless people in area hotels for as long as two weeks. The Hotel Roberts was an attractive option because room rates were about half of other hotels, Crane said.

With it now closed, the Food and Care Coalition may be able to serve fewer people, he said.