A neighbor built a shelter for stray cats beside our shared steps. How do we discuss care without letting the entrance become a colony site?

A foam-lined cat shelter now sits beneath the shared front steps of our duplex.

The neighbor placed it there during a cold week and leaves food nearby each evening. One cat used it at first. We now regularly see four, and food bowls remain beside the path overnight.

I am glad the animals have warmth. I am also cleaning spilled food from the steps, and our indoor cat becomes agitated at the front window. Delivery drivers have started setting packages farther from the door when cats are gathered there.

The neighbor says moving the shelter would abandon animals that now rely on it. That concern matters, but it also means the arrangement is no longer a brief emergency gesture. It needs a plan beyond indefinite feeding at the entrance.

I want us to contact a local animal-welfare or community-cat program for guidance on assessment, sterilization and a suitable feeding location. I am not going to claim that simply removing the shelter will make the cats disappear. Sudden removal could move the problem without helping them.

The immediate request is to stop leaving food overnight and relocate the bowls away from the steps. The shelter can remain briefly while an informed plan is arranged, provided the entrance stays passable and clean.

My partner wants everything gone today. The neighbor wants us to adopt one of the cats. Neither answer addresses the group or the shared-space decision.

I am trying to separate compassion from location. Caring for stray animals does not automatically make the main entrance the right care site, and objecting to the site does not mean wanting the animals harmed.

Would you set a deadline for professional guidance, ask for immediate relocation or tolerate the setup through cold weather? What responsibilities arise when a kind emergency action begins attracting more animals to shared residential space?