St. Vincent de Paul Gateway Shelter in Dayton has announced it will not accept single women until August due to a surge in demand for family accommodations.
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As News Center 7 previously reported, the shelter’s dorms are currently full with families, prompting the decision to temporarily halt admissions for single women.
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This comes as the shelter faces increasing challenges in accommodating the rising number of homeless individuals.
“Gone are the days where you can just say, ‘Well, you, I can’t deal with you anymore. You can just go down to St. Vincent, ‘cause they always have a bed,’” Michael Vanderburgh, Executive Director of the shelter, said.
Vanderburgh said that upwards of 70 to 80% of all homeless adults are single, making it difficult to serve them when the shelter also accommodates families.
The shelter is collaborating with other organizations to increase resources.
“Any landlord that are willing to work with us for people who are not in ideal situations to be renting,” Vanderburgh said. “Having good relationships all around in the community is really key to servicing our homeless neighbors.”
He recommends single women needing immediate assistance to call 211.
Current clients are not being displaced.
The shelter is planning to rely heavily on donations rather than government funding.
“In recent years, we have relied on government funding for over half our funding. But now it’s not as available as it was, and the costs keep going up. Now we’re planning for a continued reduction in government funding,” Vanderbugh said.
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