Homeless people needing shelter in Richmond beginning Friday, Oct. 1, through mid-April will have a place to stay if the private shelters are full during cold weather.

Now tapped as City Hall’s overflow shelter manager, Commonwealth Catholic Charities, or CCC, plans to initially operate an inclement weather shelter at the Quality Inn Central, 3207 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd. It will be in the same space that was used as a pandemic safety net shelter last year, according to the plan Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration presented to City Council on Sept. 1.

CCC plans to use the hotel space while it renovates its intake facility at 809 Oliver Hill Way.

City Council’s policy is to have a shelter available when the temperature or wind chill factor is forecast to be at or below 40 degrees for the night.

Stoney administration officials stated that funding is being requested from City Council to pay for renovations at the CCC site and for operational costs for the first year. If the council approves it, the renovations would take several months, officials noted.

The funding would come from shelter dollars provided to the city by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, officials stated.

The city considered other options, including buying a motel, but has dropped those ideas, the officials said, and is now focused on ensuring CCC has the funds it needs to handle the city’s shelter needs.

The CCC also is under contract with the Greater Richmond Continuum of Care to operate the region’s main shelter program for families with children under 12, people recovering from illness, surgery or other health challenges and those 62 and older.

In July, Sharon Ebert, the city’s deputy chief administrative officer for economic and community development, told the council that $2.65 million was available to keep the program operating through March.

She said at the time that 133 individuals and 128 families with children under 12 were being housed through the program in motels and other locations.

She said then that GRCoC, an umbrella group whose members operate private shelters, had tapped CCC and the Richmond Urban Ministry Institute in North Side to operate the program, which is distinct from the city’s overflow shelter for winter and inclement weather.