Springfield City Council considering what to do with estimated $1.8 million in recreational marijuana tax in the next fiscal year ky3.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ky3.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Springfield City Council seeks solutions to homelessness at retreat news-leader.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from news-leader.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
COVID-19 spikes among Springfield homeless with no quarantine shelter news-leader.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from news-leader.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The end of the cold weather season is approaching, hopefully bringing an end to an especially difficult winter with regard to safely sheltering the homeless on freezing nights.
Due to the pandemic, existing crisis cold weather shelter spaces had to operate at limited capacity to allow for social distancing.
In late January, those spaces were nearing capacity with more and more homeless people seeking shelter on freezing nights. In response, the city announced it would allocate to the Ozarks Alliance to End Homelessness an additional $95,000 in emergency funding to help provide for crisis sheltering.
The Ozarks Alliance to End Homelessness serves as this community’s Continuum of Care — the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s designated regional planning body for coordinating homeless services and funding.
There is no charge for these services.
The O'Reilly Center for Hope — housed in the former Pepperdine school building — opened as a new one-stop shop last year. The 103-year-old building brings multiple agencies under one roof to provide resources and education for those in poverty, homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, struggling with mental health issues or neighbors who need to borrow a shovel or saw from the tool lending library.
No reservations are required to use the showers and laundry, but those services are on a first-come, first-serve basis with a priority given to the homeless community. Guests are asked to not engage in the same service more than once a day unless it's an emergency, explained Michelle Garand with Community Partnership of the Ozarks.