New Winter Homeless Shelter In Worcester Follows Hotel Grace Closure

WORCESTER, MA — A winter homeless shelter will open soon in Worcester at a Pleasant Street church after the displacement of the Hotel Grace emergency shelter from its longtime Vernon Hill site.

The new shelter at Blessed Sacrament Church will offer about 60 beds to homeless residents from late December to mid-March with funding from the state Department of Housing and Community Development. The shelter will operate 24/7, so residents can stay indoors during daytime hours.

The nonprofit Open Sky Community Services will operate the shelter. Open Sky, which has offices in Worcester and Whitinsville, already operates homelessness support programs in the area, including ATARP (Aggressive Treatment and Relapse Prevention).

The shelter will be set up in Blessed Sacrament's Phelan Center, a community space in a separate building behind the main church building. The building has facilities like bathrooms and a full kitchen.

Blessed Sacrament Rev. Thomas Landry said he's started referring to the shelter as "Bethlehem Hall" — a reference to the biblical city where Jesus was born after Mary and Joseph were denied shelter and found refuge in a manger.

"We're talking about doing something that can be the difference between life and death for someone," he said.

Landry declined to comment further due to a community meeting about the shelter planned for Sunday. Open Sky, District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj and church officials will answer questions beginning at 5 p.m. at the 551 Pleasant St. church.

"One of the values our community has always led with is caring for people," Haxhiaj said Wednesday. "I cannot think of anything more compassionate than offering a warm meal and a dry bed to residents who would otherwise be sleeping in freezing conditions. I look forward to a hopeful dialogue between the Blessed Sacrament community, neighbors and partners involved."

The closure of Hotel Grace would've left a large hole in the city's shelter system at a time when homelessness in Worcester is on the rise. The only other large winter option for local homeless residents is an approximately 60-bed shelter at the South Middlesex Opportunity Council site at 25 Queen St.

City officials asked Blessed Sacrament to take on the shelter after Hotel Grace lost its lease at the former Ascension Church along Vernon Street. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church purchased the former Catholic church in May, and Hotel Grace officially closed at the Vernon Street site on May 22, according to the Catholic Free Press.

The Blessed Sacrament shelter may also serve as a bridge to permanent housing. Local human services workers hope new permanent supportive housing options will be available when the shelter closes for the season in March. Two main projects could be available near that time: the A Place To Live development along Lewis Street featuring 24 units targeted at chronically homeless residents; and a proposed hotel conversion of the Quality Inn off Lincoln Street, which could provide up to 90 units of supportive housing.

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• Worcester Reports Rise In Homeless Residents In 2021

This story has been updated to reflect that the exact shelter opening date has not been finalized.