Emergency Shelter to Provide Cold-Weather Lodging

The Allegheny County Department of Human Services is again opening a Severe Weather Emergency Shelter with the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System’s Operation Safety Net.

During heavy precipitation or extreme temperatures, the shelter will provide lodging, food, medical and case-management services to as many as 120 people.

Operation Safety Net Program Administrator Linda Sheets says this refuge is primarily for people living on the streets.

“The shelter is provided for those individuals that will not or cannot stay in the area shelters, or if there is an overflow,” says Sheets.

Sheets says the service helped to house over half of the people who used the shelter last year, so she expects a smaller turnout this year. She says there are fewer rules imposed at this facility than at other shelters because safety is the main concern.

To find out if the shelter at the Smithfield United Church of Christ is open, call 412-779-1329.