Last week’s dip into freezing nighttime temperatures was a stark reminder of how important shelter is for our unhoused population — and it happened to coincide with a series of disappointing announcements from Bartlett House.
As things currently stand, Bartlett House plans to close its triage shelter at Hazel’s House of Hope by June 30, because it did not receive the $166,000 it expected.
At the same time it was announced Bartlett House would not get its funding for the year from the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness, news broke that the new Rainbow House would receive $250,000 from WVCEH.
Unfortunately, many people in the community understood this to mean that Rainbow House had somehow stolen Bartlett’s funding. Sadly, this led to much finger-pointing and name-calling within the community.
To be clear: It was not an either/or situation where the WVCEH could choose to fund only one shelter in the area. The WVCEH recently implemented a competitive grant process in lieu of just funding the same handful of shelters year after year. This opened the opportunity to dozens of newer shelters and programs — like Rainbow House — to secure grant dollars that would not have otherwise been available to them. Rainbow House fairly earned every penny of that award, and we congratulate them.
Bartlett House, however, did not perform so well. It received the lowest rank under the new system, which meant that it would not receive its usual $166,000, let alone the higher amount it had requested for 2024-25.
But, like the sun emerging after a storm, possibilities have surfaced for the shelter to regain its funding.
The WVCEH, which has provided that money to Bartlett House for the past 15 years, said if Bartlett can make some changes to meet certain criteria — the details of which have not been publicly shared — its backing can be restored. (This past week, Bartlett’s executive director was removed from her post. It is unclear if this was part of the criteria laid out by the WVCEH or for unrelated reasons.)
Right around the same time Bartlett announced it would have to close its emergency shelter, Sen. Michael Oliverio said, he was working behind the scenes with state lawmakers to rustle up the $166,000 needed to keep the location at Hazel’s House going.
So there is hope that Bartlett’s shelter won’t have to close after all.
There is no reason that Bartlett House and Rainbow House cannot coexist. Monongalia County needs both a low-barrier emergency shelter for bitter cold nights and a place that is safe for unhoused LGBTQ+ individuals. (Rainbow House has made it clear that non-LGBTQ+ people can seek refuge in its facility, but they must be tolerant and respectful of the LGBTQ+ community.)
We truly hope that Bartlett receives the funding it needs, whether that be by making the changes required by the WVCEH to restore its grant dollars, or through state support negotiated in Charleston. Everyone deserves to have a safe, warm place to rest and Bartlett House helps make that a reality.
