HUNTINGTON Ƶ A new low-barrier overnight shelter that will provide basic needs and mental and medical services for unsheltered people in Huntington will be developed in the West End, Mayor Patrick Farrell announced from City Council Chambers on Tuesday.
The shelter will be a partnership between Valley Health Systems, the Cabell-Huntington Health Department, Prestera Health Services, Harmony House, Marshall Health Network and the City of Huntington.
Mayor Patrick Farrell said by bringing key health and social services together, the facility will offer Ƶa real path forwardƵ for those in need.
During her six years of providing medical services to unsheltered people in Huntington, Harmony House Medical Director Sydnee McElroy, also a family physician at Valley Health, said people trying to get resources often face political barriers, financial barriers, bureaucracy and bias.
The development of the new low-barrier shelter will address those obstacles and will, hopefully, help unsheltered people overcome them as agencies and service providers collaborate at the new location, she said.
The low-barrier overnight shelter will be in a former Public Works Department building at 96 Virginia Ave., near the corner of Virginia Avenue and 2nd Street West.
It will first provide basic needs such as beds, food, bathrooms, a shower, a laundry room, hygiene safety, security and shelter. Later, mental health and medical services will be offered at the space, McElroy said.
After meeting basic needs, the shelter will then incorporate addiction and mental health treatment, housing support, case management and social work services on site, she said.
ƵThis is going to be a much bigger, broader effort with so many more partner agencies,Ƶ McElroy said. ƵThen we can even start moving into things like employment services. That would be wonderful if itƵs in the same place where you can get your health care, get access to housing, an apartment Ƶ and then letƵs help you get a job.Ƶ
Farrell said the shelter is expected to be open by winter 2025. The Huntington City Mission will provide low-barrier services in its chapel until the renovated building is complete and running, Farrell said.
Offering long-term stability
Farrell described the facility as Ƶa new low-barrier overnight shelter that will serve not only as a safe place to sleep, but as a gateway to long-term stability.Ƶ
McElroy said she believes the location is accessible and appropriate for the shelterƵs clients, adding that it could attract unsheltered people who live over the floodwall toward the West End who have been identified by Harmony HouseƵs Street Outreach team.
ƵWe are missing a lot of people who might not access services right now,Ƶ McElroy said. ƵMoving services a little further that direction or adding extra services that direction, weƵll be able to find those people.Ƶ
The building is being renovated by HuntingtonƵs Public Works Department. Funding from the cityƵs federal sources, grants and opioid settlement money will fund staffing, Farrell said.
Occupancy of the building is still to be determined. Because of the size of the building, Farrell said it will be able to hold more people than the current emergency shelter at Huntington City MissionƵs chapel.
ƵThis only works in collaboration, right? This problem is so big and so complex that if we donƵt all come together, I believe that weƵre not going to solve it,Ƶ Farrell said.
Farrell said this will be a starting point and the city intends to bring other partners into the collaboration.
Dr. Matt Weimer, president and chief executive officer of Valley Health Systems, said Valley Health wanted to be a part of the new low-barrier shelter because it believes all people deserve access good health and medical care.
ƵI appreciate the importance of medical care and achieving good health, but itƵs so much more,Ƶ Weimer said. ƵItƵs safety, shelter, itƵs food, itƵs dignity, itƵs community.Ƶ
Providing all of the services dreamed up by public officials can only be done by service providers and medical providers working together, Weimer said. Valley HealthƵs role will be to continue to build a coalition to get the right partners involved to operate new overnight shelter, Weimer said.
ƵMy organization will provide services, medical services, behavioral health, substance use disorder treatment, infectious disease services at the location with partners, so there will be access to tertiary care,Ƶ Weimer said. ƵWe are hopeful that we can make a serious difference.Ƶ
Harmony House will help develop policies and procedures. In the beginning, McElroy said food will most likely be delivered to the shelter and transportation will also be sorted out later in the process. Basic medical services will be provided in the beginning, she said.
A better location for clients
The new low-barrier shelter will be about a 30-minute walk from Huntington City Mission, or a five- to six-minute drive, according to AppleƵs Maps app. It is about nine blocks from Harmony House, in an industrial zone across from CJ Hughes Construction and beside Enterprise Truck Rental.
Farrell said the city has contacted some of the neighbors of the new location and each entity was supportive.
Elaine Doss, branch manager at a business in the area, said she was not aware of the low-barrier shelter being moved. Doss said she believes the new location secludes people more due to not being close to a location where they could receive food or near a bus route.
ƵI feel like itƵs somewhat like you are pushing people to the corners of town,Ƶ Doss said.
Doss said other businesses have reported issues with unsheltered people to the authorities, but no one has bothered her or the business for which she works.
The new shelter will fulfill FarrellƵs goal of moving low-barrier shelter services outside of the central business district. It also will replace the MissionƵs planned low-barrier shelter that broke ground in November 2024.
The planned building, set to cost $1.85 million, was to contain cots, bathrooms, showers and laundry facilities, as well as office space for community partners to provide health and behavioral health care, an observation room and a medical exam room. Outside, construction plans called for a bike rack and a fenced courtyard to protect clients.
ƵThe importance of it is that itƵs a collaboration of all the partners, this doesnƵt get solved without wrap-around services and not one organization can provide it,Ƶ Farrell said. ƵItƵs substance use disorder, itƵs mental health, itƵs the pathway to housing, itƵs all of that is what makes this thing great.Ƶ
Farrell said the new location in the West End will be better for the clients as it will provide more space, more services, outdoor space and is in a more quiet area pertaining to traffic. The relocation will also be better for the neighbors because it will be away from businesses, schools and churches and less disruptive, he said.
ƵI think it will help bring people back to the downtown area that may have stayed away for whatever perception that they had so I think it will be better for the community,Ƶ Farrell said. ƵThe new location is just better all around.Ƶ
When being asked about funds that were approved for the MissionƵs low-barrier project but have not yet been distributed, and the negative effects that could come from the project not being complete, Farrell said the city will ensure the Mission will be Ƶfinancially wholeƵ from the situation.
ƵWe have to go through a process with the funding sources to change the scope of what they are going to do and thatƵs in the process,Ƶ Farrell said. ƵI canƵt make that decision unilaterally because of the funding, so we are working on that now.Ƶ
Farrell said he has assured the Mission it will not be Ƶfinancially harmedƵ by what the city is doing, he said.
When the new shelter is complete, the city will provide a transition with the help of the Mission, Farrell said.
The Herald-Dispatch did not receive a comment from Huntington City Mission Executive Director Mitch Webb or Mission board members before press time Tuesday.
