The City of Wheeling has informed the chief executive officer of Youth Services System that the former Hillcrest behavioral facility in Center Wheeling will not be available this year to house the non-profit’s Winter Freeze Shelter.
YSS has operated the homeless shelter from mid-December through mid-March for more than a decade. For the last two winters, the building on the campus of the former Ohio Valley Medical Center has served as the program’s home, but CEO Tammy Kruse said she was told by City Manager Bob Herron that the structure would not be available for a third year.
“The former Hillcrest building was a great place and we appreciate the City allowing us to use it for the past two years. With Covid and the winter weather we’ve had, the building was really a blessing,” Kruse said on River Talk-Wheeling/Steubenville. “Once we found out that we would have to move from the OVMC campus, we inquired about having it back on the top floor inside the Hazel Atlas building, and we are not able to do that either.
“The Winter Freeze Shelter was on that top floor of the Hazel-Atlas Building for 10 years before it moved to Hillcrest, but now it doesn’t fit the new requirements in the state (of West Virginia),” she explained. “So, right now, we are looking for a location for the Winter Freeze Shelter for this winter. It’s from December 15 until March 15, so if anyone has a building we might be able to utilize, please contact us.”
Youth Services System can be contacted by calling 304-233-9627 or by emailing Kruse at tkruse@ysswv.com.
“I have met with a number of people in search of a new location, and Melissa Adams with the City of Wheeling is one of them, and we are really working hard to find a new place,” Kruse said. “And we might have a location, but that’s not something we’re completely sure about right now. There are steps that need to be taken before that can happen, and we’re in that process to see if it can work.
“We are not ignoring the fact that we have homeless people in our city. We don’t turn a blind eye, and that’s why so many different entities in Wheeling are working together so we can make something positive happen,” she said. “We have everything that goes with the shelter like the foot lockers and blankets and things like that, and all we would have to do is move to a new location. We really hope we have that chance because the need is there.”
Kruse is not aware of the reasons why the former Hillcrest location will not be available this winter season. Wheeling Councilman Ben Seidler did tell LEDE News in mid-June he would vote in favor of demolition if a redevelopment plan for the property was established, but no formal announcement has been made.
The parcels were acquired by the City of Wheeling in June 2020 after Alecto-West Virginia shuttered OVMC in late September 2019. While a new police headquarters soon will open in the former Ohio Valley Professional Center along Chapline Street, the remaining six buildings have remained mostly empty during the last three years.
“Whatever the reasons are for the building not to be available to us, I just hope it’s because something very positive is coming to Wheeling,” Kruse said. “I consider us lucky to have been able to use the building when we did, but we were aware it wouldn’t be a permanent solution for the Winter Freeze. We have a few months to get this figured out, so I am hopeful.”
City Manager Herron was not available for comment late Friday afternoon.
