"This is a monumental moment," Deb Jones said Friday morning.
Jones is the director of the Office of the Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition, part of the Lancaster County Redevelopment Authority. On Friday, she and other leaders hosted an open house at the new Clay Street Emergency Shelter at Otterbein United Methodist Church.
The low-barrier facility at 20 E. Clay St., Lancaster, is scheduled to welcome its first overnight guests on Monday, Dec. 30. It will have 40 beds available its first week, ramping up to 60 beds the week of Jan. 6, and if needed to 80 beds, its maximum capacity, the week of Jan. 13. It will be open nightly year-round from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. the next morning.
The shelter has already pre-registered 38 individuals who have been staying at Tenfold's emergency shelter at 308 E. King St., said Josiah Huyard, the coalition’s outreach and emergency shelter coordinator. They have been staying there regularly, and the goal is to preserve the stability they have achieved, he said.
How you can help
- To see the Clay Street Emergency Shelter's Amazon Wish List for supplies, click here.
- To see volunteer opportunities, click here.
Tenfold launched its shelter at the start of November and is currently operating with 64 beds. It has consistently been running at capacity or close to it, providing more than 400 bed-nights each week.
Its last night is scheduled to be Sunday, Jan. 12, President Shelby Nauman said.
The redevelopment authority and the homelessness coalition have been working for more than a year to make the shelter a reality. They announced last fall that the Otterbein church had agreed to host it; it has taken since then to design the facility, undertake the renovations and arrange for its operation.
The basement space at 20 E. Clay St. totals about 9,000 square feet. There are separate dormitory rooms for men (60 beds) and women (20 beds) and there are accommodations for LGBTQ and transgender individuals, Jones said.
Bed linens will be laundered on site, saving about $30,000 a year compared with a contracted laundry service, Jones said. Linens will go through treatment in a heat room to eliminate bedbugs.
The church basement was essentially gutted and rebuilt to accommodate the shelter. New partitions were built and shower and laundry facilities were installed.
In all, the project cost about $3.1 million for construction and will run about $1.2 million a year to operate, Jones and redevelopment authority Executive Director Justin Eby said.
The authority has contracted with YMCA of the Roses to operate the facility. YMCA has hired six fulltime staff, including shelter director Lamar McLean, YMCA CEO Larry Richardson said.
Plans call for having two staff members on site each night plus a contracted security guard. Volunteers will be recruited to help with nighttime intake and morning checkout.
For the first couple of months, guests will use a temporary entrance. The permanent entrance and a handicap-accessible elevator are yet to be installed: That phase will wrap up in March or April, Eby said.
Photos
(Photos by Brian McCloud and Tim Stuhldreher | One United Lancaster)
