Beds Added To Grassroots Emergency Shelter, Officials Break Ground On Another Shelter

COLUMBIA, MD — Grassroots Crisis Intervention has added 17 new beds for individuals and families at the Grassroots Emergency Shelter, bumping up its capacity by 75 percent to a total of 89 beds. That increase comes after the November 2024 addition of 20 beds.

Dr. Mariana Izraelson, LCADC with Grassroots Crisis Intervention, told Patch that the second phase of the shelter's expansion is "critical to ensuring the safety and security of individuals and families who are most in need in our community."

"This expansion comes at a crucial time, as we seek to provide extra support for our neighbors during the coldest and most difficult months of the year. Presently, these new beds will support our Cold Weather Shelter program, which has run for 21 years in partnership with our faith communities. Individuals and families started moving in today in order to seek respite from the cold, as well as access nutritious meals, fellowship and case management as a way to secure long-term, stable housing. It is our hope at Grassroots to be a place of safety and comfort for those experiencing homelessness not just during the winter, but year-round," Izraelson told Patch.

Individuals experiencing homelessness can call the Grassroots crisis line at 410-531-6677 or walk in to the Grassroots Crisis Center at 8990 Old Annapolis Road, Suite A, Columbia, MD 21045 to complete a housing assessment. Bed allocation at the emergency shelter is coordinated by the Howard County Coalition to End Homelessness.

According to Izraelson, the emergency shelter has 69 beds - 18 single male, 8 single female, 43 family. There are 20 beds at the Cold Weather Shelter - 8 single male, 4 single female, 8 family. In fiscal year 2025, Grassroots provided emergency shelter to 238 clients for a total of 25,106 shelter bed nights. It supported an additional 39 individuals through the Cold Weather Shelter program and 258 individuals through the Code Blue Shelter, which provides refuge for people when the temperature reaches 26 degrees or below.

The expansion was made possible with a $1 million investment from Howard County using federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. As part of the shelter's renovation, Howard County has also added new restroom and shower facilities, locker rooms, a new laundry facility and ADA-accessible facilities within the emergency shelter. The renovation of the shelter was its first major expansion since 2008.

“Our partnership with Grassroots reflects what we can accomplish when we come together to meet the needs of our community by providing emergency shelter for residents who are experiencing homelessness, treating them with compassion and dignity,” said Howard County Executive Calvin Ball. “Through this transformational expansion, we have increased capacity at the Grassroots Emergency Shelter by more than 70% in the last year, ensuring more of our families have access to safe and comfortable shelter options when they need it most. By offering emergency shelter and supportive services, we are striving to ensure that our neighbors feel seen, heard and loved, especially during the cold months of the holiday season.”

In addition to emergency shelter, Grassroots provides free, 24-hour crisis, mental health and substance use services at its crisis center in Columbia. Individuals can access care via a 24-hour crisis line, walk-in crisis center and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, as well as a 24-hour food and hygiene pantry. Grassroots also operates Howard County’s Mobile Crisis Team, which responds to crises in the community. Grassroots supports unsheltered, homeless and low-income individuals with hot meals, showers, laundry facilities, case management, a food and clothing pantry and other resources at its Day Resource Center in Jessup.

On Tuesday, Ball and other officials broke ground on the county's new non-congregate shelter, the first of its kind in Howard County. In June, the county purchased land for the shelter at 9530 Lynn Buff Court along the Route One Corridor in North Laurel.

The new 16,000 square foot, 22-room facility will expand the county’s shelter capacity by providing short-term private shelter, comprehensive assessments and immediate referrals to housing and critical services, leaders said.

“For too long, individuals and families who needed short-term stabilization and private space to regain their footing simply didn’t have sufficient options – our first non-congregate shelter is changing that. When we purchased this land along the Route One Corridor in June, we did so with a clear purpose: to reimagine what emergency shelter can look like, and to fill a longstanding gap in our crisis-response system,” Ball said at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The non-congregate county shelter will have private bedrooms with private bathroom facilities for each household. The building also will include a commercial kitchen within the building to allow for shared meals for those using shelter services.

The non-congregate county shelter will serve as an overflow for Grassroots’ emergency shelter at Freetown Road in Columbia, a warming center for the Code Blue and Cold Weather Shelter, and as an exit destination for individuals who time out of 23-hour crisis beds at Grassroots Crisis Intervention.

“The new non-congregate shelter at Lynn Buff will add significant capacity to our homeless response system in 2027,” said Kelly Cimino, director of the Howard County Department of Housing and Community Development. “As we begin implementation of our new five-year The Path Toward Zero plan, we appreciate the county’s investment and recognition of the need for this project to serve vulnerable residents in our community.”

The non-congregate shelter builds on the county’s updated five-year plan to end homelessness, which Ball unveiled this past month. Developed in partnership between DHCD and Coalition to End Homelessness, The Path Toward Zero outlines the major goals and interventions to achieve “functional zero” over the next five years, and to ensure a comprehensive system of homeless services to resolve homelessness in Howard County. Functional zero is achieved when the number of people experiencing homelessness is consistently below the community's capacity to house them so that homelessness becomes a rare, short-term crisis with rapid return to stable housing.

Photo courtesy of the Howard County Government