‘We need help’: Homeless cleanup nonprofit furloughs employees, faces full shutdown

A longtime Utah social enterprise nonprofit that employs more than 100 people experiencing homelessness and other challenges has furloughed almost all of its staff — and it’s days away from shutting down completely if it doesn’t get an infusion of cash by the end of the month. 

“We’re going to drown unless somebody jumps in and saves us,” Advantage Services CEO Rob Ferris said. 

Advantage Services — which has a variety of service contracts with the state, Salt Lake City, homeless service providers and other organizations — had recently employed about 125 people. But starting on Oct. 12, Ferris said he had to furlough 110 employees for three weeks as a last-ditch effort to keep the company afloat after not being able to make payroll. 

Longtime Utah homeless cleanup nonprofit on brink of bankruptcy, issues ‘urgent’ call for help

“We’re operating with a skeleton crew of about 15 people,” he said. 

Utah News Dispatch reported in August that Advantage Services had been financially struggling due to several issues: unexpected cost increases, higher insurance premiums, and scaled back contracts from various customers. But one of the biggest reasons was its largest contract with Salt Lake City’s Urban Services Division was slashed in half from roughly $2 million to less than $1 million. 

Since then Ferris has been trying to expand Advantage Services’ contracts or merge with another nonprofit to preserve its jobs so that the people who rely on the nonprofit for work aren’t left unemployed. 

“What keeps me up at night is knowing that there’s no place for these people to go if we are not here,” Ferris said. “We’re the largest employer of people in this population — the homeless, people coming out of jail or prison — in the whole state. … Where are they going to go? There is no other company that does what we do.”

Since it was formed more than 34 years ago in 1992, Advantage Services has employed people who are disadvantaged — whether they have disabilities, are currently or formerly homeless, leaving jail or prison, are refugees, or are living in poverty. 

The nonprofit doesn’t function like a typical employer, but rather provides “supportive employment,” offering job coaching, mentoring, and other resources to help meet employees’ needs so they can not only work, but thrive.

The work Advantage Services employees do isn’t glamorous. They pick up garbage, clean up homeless encampments, power wash streets of biohazards, shuttle people to and from homeless shelters, and more, depending on the contract. But the opportunity to work can be life-changing for people building their resumes and developing life skills to turn their lives around. 

Earlier this month, Ferris sent a notice to Advantage Services’ more than a dozen customers notifying them of the looming furlough and how it would impact their services. 

He said the team would cease all services for Salt Lake City except for emergency biohazard cleanup. Shuttle services for Shelter the Homeless — the owner of several homeless resource centers in Salt Lake County — would pause for a week from Oct. 12 to Oct. 17, while other landscaping, grounds cleanup and janitorial services would cease until Nov. 1. The nonprofit’s highway cleanup contract with the Utah Department of Transportation — and other services for a variety of other organizations — would continue. 

But come Nov. 1, Ferris said if Advantage Services isn’t able to find a path to secure about $750,000 to make payroll until Jan. 1, the nonprofit will be forced to shut down. 

“If nothing changes, if we don’t receive any funding from anywhere, we will be forced to shut down or merge with another nonprofit,” he said. 

Ferris said he’s been conversing with other nonprofits about a potential merger, but those talks hadn’t produced anything firm as of last week. 

“We may or may not come back online if we don’t get any help,” he said. “We need help to stay in business.” 

The situation has caught the attention of the Utah Homeless Services Board, the powerful body that oversees the state’s homeless system and distributes state funding to homeless service providers. 

During the board’s last meeting on Oct. 6, the board’s chair, Randy Shumway, raised the issue and questioned if there was anything the board or the state Office of Homeless Services could do to help. 

Shumway said from what he’s heard, Advantage Services has “done a tremendous job at helping people reskill, develop a job history post recovery … then find other employment that continues to propel their recovery.” 

“From my vantage point, it appears like they’re having tremendous impact. Is that accurate? And if so, then what can we, as a state, do to provide help and support for them to continue their efforts?” Shumway said. 

State Homeless Coordinator Tyler Clancy told Shumway his office would be willing to “engage.” 

“I don’t have an answer for you today,” Clancy said in that Oct. 6 meeting. “It certainly has been on our radar in different conversations with community partners, but we’d be more than happy to jump on this and make it a priority.” 

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, who sits on the Homeless Services Board, noted that that board doesn’t contract directly with Advantage Services — and she questioned that if the board waded into this issue, are there other organizations the board should also consider helping. 

“I think then the question would need to be broadened to what other organizations are also advancing the path to thriving for individuals in recovery,” she said. “It’s a big funding question without an answer on it just yet. But if we are going to ask that question about organizations that help that path, then we might want to broaden it to look at others, and I would guess many of them are struggling.” 

Shumway said as the “keeper” of the state’s homeless system, he worried that the loss of Advantage Services would have a ripple effect on the system as a whole. 

“This is a loss that is going to be felt, and we’re going to pay for it in spades, both economically and socially elsewhere,” he said. 

Josh Romney, board chair of Shelter the Homeless, said Advantage Services “provides a significant amount of our transportation to and from the shelters, and so we are very nervous” about the nonprofit potentially shutting down. 

“It creates a real concern for us about getting people to and from shelter,” Romney said, noting Avantage Services also owns the vans it uses. “There’s a lot of assets there that would be difficult to replace.”

Since Advantage Services also provides transportation for emergency “code blue” shelters during the winter time, Mendenhall wondered if Clancy could look into whether it would be possible to use emergency funding to help. 

“I think it would be an incredible detriment to this winter system if we lose Advantage Services based on the transportation needs,” she said. “So could we look at the potential for matching funding or some kind of financial assistance. Maybe you can help guide us to which funds to look at.” 

The Utah Homeless Services Board isn’t scheduled to meet again until Nov. 12, after Ferris’ Nov. 1 deadline. Ferris said he spoke with Clancy earlier this month about the issue, but hasn’t heard of any solid solutions yet. 

Ferris stressed that he’s open to any ideas that preserve Advantage Services’ jobs for people who need them most — more so than the company itself. So if that means merging with another nonprofit or service provider, he’s open to that. 

“We’re not looking for handouts. We’re looking to change people’s lives, but do it in a way that doesn’t affect the cost to the taxpayer,” he said. “So whatever that’s going to look like, if it looks like a loan, if it looks like a bailout, we just need $750,000 to come in before next Friday, or at least know that it’s going to be there.” 

Talks are ongoing over if anything can be done to keep Advantage Services alive. 

“We are continuing to review the situation involving Advantage Services and gathering information to better understand the circumstances,” Clancy said in a prepared statement issued to Utah News Dispatch. “Our goal is to ensure state funding supports a sustainable homeless services system that serves Utahns, uses public resources responsibly and focuses on measurable outcomes. We will continue to assess the situation as we determine the next steps.”