WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Monday Winston-Salem city council voted unanimously to open a white flag shelter in the city for those with nowhere to go.
The $40,000 in grant funds the city approved will cover the cost of overnight monitoring and meals provided by an organization called City with Dwellings.
The shelter will run out of its facility on Broad Street.
They've served the homeless since opening in 2012. Now they'll open a white flag shelter when temperatures drop below 32 degrees.
The drop-in shelter will have 40 beds.
"It also has an overflow component in case those beds are full," said a representative of City with Dwellings. "We also have family beds we utilize as well."
The shelter will open sometime this year.
The city of Winston-Salem said it's seeing more families without a place to stay, and many shelters are at capacity.
At Monday's City Council meeting mayor pro tempore Denise Adams talked about the need for a housing summit to come up with permanent solutions.
"Realtors, builders, nonprofits all of us," Adams said. "People that need housing need to be able to come to the table and all of us have a very transparent conversation about what we know. How we know it. What we're doing and how do we address it?"
In Greensboro, the Interactive Resource Center has a white flag shelter that's also open when temperatures drop.
The director of the IRC said they hope to have the center offer services 24/7 by the end of the month.