MORGANTOWN — In the current Monongalia County Commission budget, roughly $1.1 million of the $43.6 million spending plan is allocated to social services.
That number doesn’t include more than $500,000 in opioid settlement funds passed through the county.
That, the commissioners said Wednesday, is a significant percentage of the taxpayer’s money dedicated to assist a relatively tiny percentage of the county’s roughly 108,000 residents.
“We’re always asked these questions. ‘What are we doing, What are we doing?’ And we look at what we do across the whole county and I constantly ask, ‘Well, what can we do more?’” Commissioner Sean Sikora said. “I mean, we do a lot for these citizens. And it’s always, ‘Well, it’s not enough.’”
So, what is enough?
Sikora put that question to Hope Shelter Director Jessica Thompson.
Thompson has lamented the reduction in capacity – from 28 to 19 beds – due to the most recent fire marshal review of the shelter space located in Hazel’s House of Hope. She’s also talked of a plan to put 15 beds in the former sobering center/warming shelter space if funding is available.
Asked how many beds it would ultimately take to adequately address the need, Thompson said that’s a difficult question to answer.
“I honestly can’t tell you that there is a desired number of beds that would meet a specific need. What I can tell you is the need to do regional areas,” Thompson responded. “For instance, I have people coming from [Pennsylvania]. I have people from Preston County. I have people from Marion County. I have people, you know, it’s regionally-based.”
Regionally based, but mostly locally funded.
Roughly two-thirds of the shelter’s budget comes through equal allocations from the county and the city of Morgantown.
“These other regions don’t have these facilities. So, it’s almost an ‘if you build it, they will come’ scenario. We have the benefits, and so they’re coming here, obviously — that’s what they do,” commission President Jeff Arnett said. “We’ve expressed concern in the past. We don’t turn our backs. It’s not our goal to turn our backs on anybody, but our goal and our edict is to help the citizens of Monongalia County. You know, we’re not shutting doors, but it’s a dichotomy. That’s what we struggle with.”
As Arnett stated, commissioners have expressed frustration in the recent past over the percentage of shelter beds occupied by people from outside Monongalia County.
Thompson said roughly half the 124 individuals the shelter has served since Catholic Charities took over operations in October have been from Monongalia County based on their last known address. She said 87% of that number, or about 108, were from West Virginia – with Marion, Harrison, Randolph and Kanawha counties most represented.
The shelter typically operates on a first-come, first-served basis, though Thompson works with referring agencies to take in the most-vulnerable clients.
The standard limit of stay is 45 days, but that can be extended to up to six months if the individual is participating in services to improve their situation.
Even before the reduction in beds, the shelter stayed full.
Commissioner Tom Bloom said the often-repeated talking point that the community needs dozens of new shelter beds is somewhat misleading in that it lumps the unhoused in with individuals who need services addressing mental health and addiction – not simply a place to sleep.
Thompson said those categories are often difficult to parse.
She said that while there are offerings for addiction recovery, mental health resources are sorely lacking.
“We do not have the mental health beds needed to support our community and the ones that are homeless in our community,” she said. “Yes, the majority of the individuals that I have served at Grace have mental health issues. The ones that need treatment are referred to Lauren’s Wish and to other recovery agencies if they want to go.”
Bloom said the county already dedicates a disproportionate amount of its budget to support various agencies and initiatives. Further, he said the likelihood that federal and state support for these efforts will increase is highly unlikely.
“It just becomes frustrating,” Bloom said, later adding, “So again, you know, I think we’re all open for ideas, but we don’t really have the answer. I don’t just want to keep throwing money at a problem that isn’t going anywhere.”
