Keith Hughes has an update on the schedule for reopening Westside Neighbors Shelter:
“I have had several people stop by the Hall in the last week or so to tell me that they had heard that the Westside Neighbors Shelter had closed and that the building was being sold. I’ll try to add clarity to the current situation.
“Westside Neighbors Shelter was started in the winter of 2018/19 as a Cold Weather Emergency Shelter. We opened in November, when the weather prediction was for overnight temps to be consistently below 40 F. We remained open through the winter and early spring until the weather prediction was for overnight temps to be consistently above 40 degrees, which in 2019 was the first week of April. We operated in that manner through the winter of 2024.
“When spring came in 2025, for lots of good reasons, we decided to try keeping the Morning Warm Up Center (7 am till 11 am with breakfast) open all year. It was a noble attempt, but the level of volunteers and the level of private contributions did not keep up with expenses of running every day. By December we were out of funds and had to make a strong plea to the community for funds to keep the Shelter open through the winter.
“Many individuals and groups responded to the need and made that possible. As the end of winter approached, the Board made the hard decision that, due to financial and staffing constraints, we had to return to the Cold Weather Emergency Shelter only.
“So, yes, the Shelter is closed right now, as it is summer. We have every intent to reopen when winter comes back around. We still have lots of concerns about to both the financial and procedural guidelines under which the Shelter will reopen, and we are working on those issues during this downtime.”