Funding for Warming Shelters in St. Louis County Approved

Additional funding for St. Louis County warming shelters approved in a 7-0 vote.

ST. LOUIS CO., Minn.- It’s been a long, back and forth battle over where money would come from to fund Northland warming centers this winter.

With temperatures already dropping below zero in some places this week, it’s as though St. Louis Co. passed the allowance of additional funds just in the nick of time.

The St. Louis County board chair says the passing of additional funds was a no brainer- it was a unanimous decision to allocate $75,000 from the county’s general budget to assist with funding shelters in the area.

$30,000 will go so support shelters along the Iron Range.

$45,000 thousand will go toward shelters in and around Duluth, including the CHUM emergency center and the new Gloria Dei Church shelter.

The money will primarily help pay for staffing the shelters.

“We’re seeing less and less funding from the federal government and the state government. A lot more of the burden falls on cities, counties and school districts,” Board Chair Patrick Boyle said. “I think we finally got to the point where we had enough people who felt this was a priority and made that happen last year, and we want to continue that trend moving forward.”

Now that there is approved funding, the board hopes more nonprofits and community volunteers will step forward to work with the county in providing even more space for people to stay, especially in West Duluth.

The doors to these warming shelters generally won’t open until its hits zero degrees, but there are exceptions.

Gloria Dei Church is planning to open its doors Dec. 1.