Wake County has cut ties with The Bryant Center, pulling the nonprofit as operator of the Second Street Place shelter after the N.C. Department of Labor opened wage and hour investigations. While the main facility heads into a multimillion-dollar overhaul, the county is keeping beds available at a temporary overnight site.
According to The News & Observer, the county sent The Bryant Center a notice on March 23 terminating its operator agreement for Second Street Place, saying officials had been "made aware of concerning operational practices." The county did not spell out those concerns publicly when it issued the notice.
Mike Gauss, a spokesperson for The Bryant Center, told The News & Observer that the nonprofit "is in compliance with all grant and funder-required accounting practices and procedures" and emphasized that its contract with the county was reimbursement-based. The N.C. Department of Labor confirmed to the paper that its Wage and Hour Bureau "currently has open investigations related to this matter" and said it could not provide further details while those probes are ongoing.
Big Renovation, Big Price Tag, Federal Boost
Wake County bought the Second Street Place building at 5010 Second St. in 2024 and has earmarked roughly $4.25 million for renovations that will add accessible showers, secure storage lockers, upgraded security and more space for case management, according to county project documents. Wake County records show construction was set to begin in April 2026 and wrap up by November.
Local officials earlier this spring also celebrated an $850,000 federal grant to help pay for the upgrades, as reported by NC Newsline.
Shelter Shuffle During Construction
With Second Street Place closed for the renovation work, the county is running a temporary drop-in shelter at 3211 Bramer Drive in northeast Raleigh. The Women’s Center of Wake County says on its website that the Bramer Drive location will host overnight shelter from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and that it will move its women’s day-shelter program into the same building for the duration of the project. The Women’s Center notes this setup is meant to be temporary while Second Street Place is brought up to its new standard.
Why This Hits Hard Now
The shake-up comes as Wake County’s annual point-in-time counts of people experiencing homelessness have climbed in recent years. Volunteers tallied 1,258 people in the 2025 count, up from 974 in 2020, underscoring a growing mismatch between need and available shelter beds. IndyWeek reported on the 2025 figures, while federal Continuum of Care data documents the 2020 total.
Legal Stakes For The Nonprofit
Wage and hour investigations can carry real financial consequences. If violations are found, employers can be ordered to pay back wages, liquidated damages and civil penalties, and they are often required to adopt corrective compliance plans, according to federal guidance on wage enforcement. The U.S. Department of Labor notes that such investigations typically focus on recovering back wages and securing other remedies while bringing employers into compliance.
The county says it is looking for a new operator for Second Street Place while construction continues and the labor bureau completes its investigations. For a refresher on how Wake County originally tapped The Bryant Center to run the low-barrier shelter last year, see how it was picked to run Second Street Place.
