By Josephine E. Moore, The Register Herald
BECKLEY, W.Va. — Officials running the Raleigh County Emergency Housing Center say they’ve been left reeling after learning their state funding will be cut by nearly 75 percent next fiscal year.
Danielle Stewart, board president of the Raleigh County Community Action Association, which runs the shelter, said the drastic cut to their state funding would force them to decrease their 90-bed shelter to 20 beds.
“We don’t exactly understand why,” Stewart said. “We have the history providing the services. We have the beds. We have the need most importantly and yet we’re being cut and we don’t understand why.”
Crystal Alonso, executive director for the Raleigh County Community Action Association, said they were informed via email last week from the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness that Raleigh County Emergency Housing Center would receive $125,000 from the state’s shelter funding.
Alonso said this represents a $350,000 cut from their previous allocations.
Funds distributed by the coalition originated from the West Virginia Department of Human Services, formerly part of the DHHR, and will not be finalized until the state legislators approve the budget for fiscal year 2025, which runs July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025.
Stewart said the funding cuts to the shelter have them feeling a bit of whiplash as, just last year, the state went to great lengths to ensure the future of the shelter.