Over the last decade, city and state inspectors have cited the Auburn shelter for more than four hundred violations, among them broken elevators, nonfunctioning bathrooms, faulty fire alarms, insufficient heat, spoiled food, sexual misconduct by staff, inadequate childcare, and the presence of mice, roaches, mold, bedbugs, lead, and asbestos. In interviews, the mayor’s staff told me that Auburn’s aging infrastructure was mostly to blame, and that the city had spent nearly $10 million on repairs and renovations at the shelter. They declined to comment on the reports of sexual abuse.
