Salvation Army closing homeless family shelter in Baltimore

BALTIMORE (AP) - A Baltimore emergency shelter is closing after 80 years.

The Salvation Army’s area commander for central Maryland, Major Gene Hogg, tells The Baltimore Sun in a Tuesday report that the nonprofit will move roughly 15 families from the Booth House to alternative housing in the coming weeks. He says a main factor in closing the shelter that has 57 beds is a reduction in federal funding for temporary accommodations for homeless people.

Hogg says the shelter cost $900,000 a year to operate, but the Salvation Army has been running it with a $700,000 deficit after the federal government redirected money a couple years ago toward permanent housing for the homeless.

Terry Hickey, director of the Mayor’s Office of Human Services, says Baltimore is helping the Salvation Army conceive a transition plan for Booth House families.

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Information from: The Baltimore Sun, http://www.baltimoresun.com