Toledo homeless shelters are already mostly full, and city officials are warning that a funding shortfall could leave at least 45 more people without a bed once winter weather arrives. At the center of the warning is Saint Paul’s Community Center, which has offered 45 winter-crisis beds every year for the past decade but currently lacks the funding to bring those beds back this year.
The center’s capacity has also recently been affected by a fire: a blaze on April 27 forced its residential area to close and displaced 35 residents. When the residential area began welcoming people back on Wednesday morning, Saint Paul’s restored its regular 35 beds; during the closure, the center had operated at 27 beds, using meeting rooms for sleeping space and relocating some residents. The reopening restores the regular shelter capacity, but it does not resolve the separate funding gap for the winter beds, the center’s executive director said.
A Board Sounds the Alarm
The Toledo-Lucas County Homelessness Board reported the warning signs of a looming winter shelter-capacity crisis, according to WTVG. Lisa Pengov, the board’s operations manager, said reduced winter shelter capacity is expected to leave at least 45 more people without shelter this year. Pengov also said more people are already sleeping outside simply because area shelters are full.
Pengov said about 100 people cannot fit into one location, underscoring how tight capacity has become even before winter’s coldest stretch arrives. Saint Paul’s Community Center, located in Toledo, has reliably added those 45 winter-crisis beds every year for the last 10 years, per the same account, but this year the funding for those beds simply is not there.
Warming Centers Can’t Replace a Bed
Toledo warming centers served more than 500 people last winter, offering a place to escape the cold, but the outlet notes that warming centers provide no beds — meaning people who use them still don’t have anywhere to actually sleep. Officials worry that number will climb even higher this winter if additional shelter beds aren’t secured, and community organizations will need to partner up to keep warming centers running at all.
The 45-bed gap adds pressure to the local shelter system.
Complicating matters further, Toledo zoning rules allow overnight sleeping only in approved buildings, limiting where people without shelter beds can legally spend the night. That rule means overnight stays must take place in approved buildings.
City Council Hears the Warning
The Toledo-Lucas County Homelessness Board brought the shelter-capacity issue to Toledo City Council this week, according to the report. Councilwoman Cerssandra McPherson responded by saying Toledo must take care of its citizens, and she called on churches, union halls, and community centers to step up and provide warming centers of their own.
McPherson said the city cannot solve the shelter problem alone, and she also called on Governor Mike DeWine to use Ohio’s rainy-day fund to help address the gap. Whether the state will act on that call remains to be seen, but for now, the 45 winter-crisis beds that Toledo has relied on for a decade remain unfunded as colder weather approaches.
Saint Paul’s also has a Winter Crisis program.
