By Debbie Robinson
news@joplinglobe.com
MIAMI, Okla. — Work is under way on a new homeless shelter for the city of Miami. The City Council recently agreed to apply for a $75,000 grant from the Oklahoma Community Action Agency to help finance the project.
The Rev. Phil Shyers, director of The Harbor, said its shelter at 316 Eastgate was housing 21 men and women when flooding forced their evacuation in July 2007.
After the flood, the Apostolic Assembly Church offered up their basement. The church has been housing the homeless until a new building is ready.
The Harbor already has received $60,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the purchase of a new site, Shyers said.
Terry Schroeder, grant manager for the Northeast Oklahoma Community Action Agency, said if the shelter is awarded a $75,000 grant, the money would be available in May. Of that, the state agency will keep $22,500 for programs designed to prevent homelessness.
The agency serves Craig, Delaware and Ottawa counties and is working with 150 families each year to help them make rent and utility payments in an effort to prevent them from losing their homes, he said.
The new shelter, when complete, will have beds for 30 people and accommodations for families, Shyers said.
“I really see the homeless crisis becoming more of a problem, because jobs are getting harder to find,” he said. “I haven’t seen jobs this tight since we opened.”
Shyers said the not-for-profit organization purchased a building at 114 D St. NE for $101,000 and is working on renovations. The new location will be more convenient, he said, with closer access to the post office, library and courthouse.
Money also is being collected from donors, fund-raisers and other churches.
Upgrading sewer lines and plumbing must be done before the organization opens the shelter, he said.
“Right now, there are no showers,” Shyers said. “The plumbing facilities are going to be the major hurdle.”
The Ministerial Alliance is opening offices in the building, and the food bank also will be housed in the new shelter, Shyers said.
The opening is tentatively set for early fall, he said.
