MORGANTOWN — A recently formed task force charged with guiding Monongalia County’s unsheltered population through the COVID-19 pandemic has reached an agreement with Motel 6 to house between 10 and 20 people at least through the end of April.
Rachael Coen, chief programs officer with the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness and chairperson of the Monongalia County Unsheltered Task Force, said the group started getting people into rooms on Monday.
“Right now it’s for people who we are aware of experiencing unsheltered homelessness. We’ll be checking in on them daily and making sure they’re not experiencing any symptoms,” Coen said. “If they do have symptoms and they meet the criteria, we’ll be working with Mon Health System and WVU Medicine so they can get tested in a timely manner. Then we’ll make sure they’re abiding by the isolation rules.”
Coen went on to say that people needing a room can go through the necessary screening at Milan Puskar Health Right during business hours or through the Bartlett House shelter after hours.
She said Health Right will ensure food delivery to the temporary residents.
Monongalia County Commissioner Tom Bloom said each room will cost $50 per day to be paid by the WVCEH and United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties.
Bloom went on to say that the county commission is moving $10,000 originally earmarked for an emergency warming shelter to this effort. He said he’s reached out to the City of Morgantown for an additional $10,000 — potentially more if additional Community Development Block Grant dollars are allocated to assist cities in responding to COVID-19.
Bloom said he believes Morgantown could receive $250,000 in additional CDBG money.
Coen explained the rapidly changing circumstances surrounding COVID-19 and the evolving recommendations coming from the state and federal level have social services scrambling.
“We’re not just throwing people in a hotel. There’s been a lot of time planning this to see how this is all going to work, and we’re very much aware that we might have to make changes to this plan. We might find that certain things aren’t working well,” Coen said. “But we’ve got a good group working on it.”
Health Right’s Friendship House will be temporarily closed during this arrangement.
