As a group of Minot organizations continues to work toward establishing a warming shelter, some agencies already are doing what they can.

The Men’s Winter Refuge opened its seasonal operations again on Nov. 1 and will remain open through April 30.

“It’s been kind of an unusual start,” said Executive Director Mike Zimmer. Typically November brings only a handful of refuge residents but there were as many as nine this year, he said. Some found and transitioned to apartments, which also is atypical early in the season. Generally, the refuge doesn’t see clients getting into apartments so quickly in the season, Zimmer said.

Coming to the end of the year, the refuge was housing four clients. Zimmer said it is expected numbers will pick up going into the coldest part of winter. While there are a few clients who are seeking shelter from the streets or after living in their vehicles, most commonly men are seeking out the refuge due to evictions or having come out of jail or treatment programs, he said.

Broadway Circle recently opened under the management of Pathfinder Services of ND. Broadway Circle includes a six-unit family shelter and a 17-unit affordable apartment complex. Pathfinder announced earlier this month that it is accepting housing applications for the apartments.

Youthworks has an emergency shelter for youth younger than 18 that is available 24/7, along with an emergency crisis line. Minot’s Domestic Violence Crisis Center also provides emergency shelter for clients.

During a warming shelter planning meeting Tuesday, Dec. 30, Mark Heinert, Youthworks executive director, explained those two needs are covered.

“This conversation is really about people who are not meeting any of those eligibility criteria because we currently don’t have an emergency shelter to meet the needs for the other populations,” he said. “Youthworks does continue to operate transitional housing for 18 to 24 year olds. We currently have six transitional housing beds. This does not address emergency housing, but we’re doing our best to process that and to get people into the transitional housing as soon as possible, and we’re looking at adding one or two more units, hopefully, before the winter is out.”

Organizations discussing the warming shelter will continue conversations into the new year. With First District Health Unit taking the lead, the group is pursuing leads on potential locations to host a shelter and is developing documents for operational logistics and volunteer training to have ready once a site is determined. The intent is to provide a shelter that is open during periods of extreme winter weather.

Project BEE, which has operated a warming shelter in the past, did not reopen this season due to financial issues.