Christian Center Warming Shelter Will Open This Week
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The two halves of the daytime warming shelter at the Christian Center arrived this week and the hope is to have the shelter up and running by Monday..
The shelter is a 24-by-60 foot trailer similar to the ones used as temporary classrooms by school districts will offer housing insecure folks a warm place to reside in the hours that ServiceNet's shelter at the former St. Joseph's High School is closed.
St. Joe's shelter is open 24 hours on the weekend but closes from 8 to 4 on weekdays with the exception of days when the temperature is below 20 degrees. The warming shelter will be open from 9 to 3 on weekdays providing lunches to guests while ServiceNet staffs the operation.
Director Betsy Sherman the trailer had been expected to be fully set up and electricity turned on between by Friday. It was originally set to arrive on Jan. 18, but although the trailer was ready for delivery at that time, it has been delayed by weather.
"Putting the two pieces onto the site and together was more complicated than we thought," she said on Friday evening. "Too much snow and very tight fit! Last update I had today was they would be finished and it would be inspected this weekend so hopefully Monday."
The trailer came in two large sections, Sherman said earlier this week, with each on a "wide load" trailer with accompanying cars and police. By law, the trailers are not allowed on the highways if there is any snow, even flurries, which has caused the delay.
Sherman said she has been in contact with the company multiple times a day tracking the progress.
"It is frustrating but just the way it is," she said. "When it arrives, we have everything set up for installation."
In the meantime, the Christian Center has been operating a consultation space next to its building at 183-185 Robbins Ave. Sherman said that if they have unsheltered folks out and about, they will open one side of the building for them while maintaining social distancing, wearing masks, and using sanitizers.
During the pandemic, the Christian Center has partnered with the city and most of the agencies that are handling the homeless and at risk of being homeless population. Over the summer, they put together a group with different service agencies such as Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority and ServiceNet to provide counseling services to housing insecure individuals with the intent of securing housing and accessing needs.
The Christian Center received a $54,000 allocation Community Development Block Grant funds from through the Pittsfield. Of that, $22,000 will go towards reworking the neighboring consultation space to a safe and comfortable place for clients to meet with service agencies and $32,000 was used to purchase the temporary trailer that will be used as a daytime warming shelter.
A warming shelter has been highly anticipated by homeless advocates and housing insecure residents.
At the end of November, Mayor Linda Tyer said the city was feeling discouraged from the lack of community organizations willing to host a warming shelter.
"We're concerned too, and we're feeling quite discouraged that a number of our community partners have declined our request to help with a daytime warming center but we're not going to give up," she said to the City Council.
Reportedly in normal times, there would be a warming shelter provided by the Sheriff's Department, the Salvation Army, or Soldier On, but those organizations were not able to offer their space this winter.
Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Maffuccio said Sheriff Thomas Bowler told him that the old jail on Second Street could not be used as a warming shelter at the time because of staffing issues and different organizations that reside in the building.
The Christian Center would typically be able to use their own building as a warming shelter, but because of COVID-19, they needed to get creative and find an alternative location for the service because of safety concerns.
Tags: emergency shelter, homeless,
