MORGANTOWN – Catholic Charities West Virginia Executive Director Mark Phillips said efforts to open the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness facility on West Run Road as a community warming shelter are progressing.
The two agencies are working in tandem to make the space available as soon as possible.
“We’re targeting the 15th. But, you know, if we have everything together earlier than that, we would try to get open, but right now, we’re targeting the 15th,” he said.
In the meantime, the city of Morgantown has designated the Morgantown Public Safety Building (300 Spruce St.) as a warming location. The building will remain open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to serve in that capacity until the community shelter is up and running.
“We recognize that this doesn’t provide the full services of a shelter, but is a stopgap measure in order to make sure that people have a place to go,” Morgantown City Manager Jamie Miller said. “We have had people stop and use that facility, so we’re pleased to see that.”
As for the West Run Road building, it was formerly owned by Bartlett Housing Solutions, which turned over to Catholic Charities West Virginia in 2024 due to severe financial issues.
It was identified as the site for this winter’s warming shelter in October. Hazel’s House of Hope, which has housed the winter shelter each year since opening as a social services hub, was designated a backup option after its oversight board expressed concerns about a perceived uptick in unwanted activity on the Scott Avenue property.
“So, West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness is going to host it at their West Run facility, and they’ve been a really great partner,” Phillips said. “We’re working with them on hiring for those positions that will cover the shelter. The coalition will supervise those positions, but we’ll do all the hiring and the background checks and manage payroll with the funding that we’ve been provided from the city of Morgantown and the Monongalia County Commission.”
Phillips said it’s possible that part-time staff from CCWV’s Grace Shelter could also pick up hours at the warming shelter, if desired.
The space should accommodate a capacity of 25-30. It was noted the 2024-’25 warming shelter never hit its 22-bed capacity.
“If we have 50 people show up, it’ll be a different circumstance and a different conversation,” Phillips said. “We don’t anticipate that, but with encampments closing in places like Wheeling, most recently, we don’t know whether there are individuals who are currently living in other communities who might try to use shelter services in Morgantown.”
As WVCEH does offer day sheltering programs at the West Run facility, Phillips it’s likely some people will stay on site, while others will need to get to jobs, services offered at Hazel’s House of Hope and other locations.
Which leads to the question of transportation.
“It seems like we have good community volunteers who are going to help with that somewhat. We’d still like to see an expansion of transportation services there. It’s a little bit far afield of where the bus stop is in that area, so those are ongoing conversations to see if the transportation agency can do something like add a temporary bus or van or something like that,” Phillips said.
The city has allocated $40,000 to help finance the shelter. The Monongalia County Commission has added $20,000.
Asked if additional funding will be needed, Phillips said, “Well, we’ll see.”
“We’re so appreciative of the work the city and county have done. They’re great partners and we want to try to operate within the budget and the donations we’ve received as much as possible,” he said. “Extra funding always allows us to do more and to have a more sustainable program for people.”
Phillips said he’s especially appreciative of the extra efforts undertaken by the city of Morgantown throughout the process.
“If every other city in West Virginia we worked in was as good of a partner as them, we’d be closer to finding solutions to homelessness. They’ve been really forward-thinking and engaging and available, and really have made a commitment to serve every resident – not just people who are housed, not just businesses, but people who are really struggling as well – and it’s remarkable,” he said.
Anyone interested in donating in support of the warming shelter can direct donations through ccwva.org.
