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MORGANTOWN - Compared to years past, details surrounding this year's emergency winter warming shelter appear to be coming together ahead of schedule.
We know where it's going to be. Morgantown Community Resources, the nonprofit board that operates Hazel's House of Hope, has approved the use of the first-floor space in HHH that once held the Hope Hill Sobering Center.
We know who is going to run it - Catholic Charities West Virginia. Specifically, the seasonal shelter will be under the supervision of Mindy Thorne, the director of Grace Shelter, which operates in the HHH facility year-round.
The only real question remaining is one of funding.
Last year, the shelter was held in the facility at 10 West Run Road through a partnership between Catholic Charities and the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness. It ended up costing about $68,000 to operate.
That property, which was being rented by WVCEH from Bartlett Housing Solutions, was recently foreclosed upon and sold at auction.
"The changes from the previous years to what we expect this year, with it returning to Hazel's House of Hope, we're going to have an increased expense of rent and utilities and things like that," Thorne explained as part of a request for funding before the Monongalia County Commission.
So far, Catholic Charities has secured $40,000 for the warming shelter provided by the city of Morgantown as part of its budgeting process.
Thorne asked the commission to consider matching that amount.
The commission previously denied Catholic Charities’ warming shelter request for $20,000 during its budgeting process over questions about who was going to be running the shelter and how it was going to operate.
As part of that funding request, which was submitted in February, prior to the announcement that the Bartlett Housing Solutions property on West Run Road was being foreclosed upon, the anticipated warming shelter budget was $60,000.
The shelter budget anticipated $54,500 would be needed for administrative and operational expenses, and $5,500 would be needed for materials and supplies.
With the additional details in place and submitted as part of a new funding request, Commissioner Jeff Arnett said he anticipates the commission will consider supporting the shelter as it has in years past.
The city provided $40,000 and the county provided $20,000 for last year's winter shelter.