The Vineyard’s only overnight winter shelter will open next week at a new location.

Harbor Homes, a nonprofit dedicated to helping unhoused Islanders, is set to open the shelter on Nov. 1 at 111 New York avenue in Oak Bluffs. 

The shelter had previously been operating out of a building on the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services campus in Oak Bluffs, but had to move at the end of last season because the building was demolished.

The emergency shelter will operate between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. nightly through most of April, providing food and a warm place to sleep for those experiencing temporary and long-term homelessness.

“We’ve had guests that have come in for … a variety of reasons,” said Lisa Belcastro, winter shelter director at Harbor Homes. “We’re here for the community, and we’re here for the needs of people who find themselves unhoused.”

The shelter will have capacity for 25 guests per night. Space on the house’s ground floor will be divided into men’s and women’s dorms for sleeping and that the basement will be used for its kitchen and living room.

Shelter guests must check in between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., with those who work later than 7 p.m. eligible for accommodations if they communicate with shelter staff. Guests will receive a hot meal for dinner and a homemade breakfast. Harbor Homes is collaborating with multiple Island churches and restaurants, as well as Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, to source and prepare meals.

Ms. Belcastro said that overnight shelter guests will undergo an extensive intake process to assess their situations and match them up with the best Island resources possible. 

“We’re asking how we can help immediately, with dinner and a warm place to stay, but also how we can help long-term with their goals,” she said.

While Ms. Belcastro said it’s impossible to fully predict the level of need before the shelter opens and starts operating, she noted that the 2023 to 2024 season saw the shelter often hitting max capacity.

Finding a permanent place for the overnight shelter has been a years-long struggle for Harbor Homes. For part of last season, the shelter operated out of several different church basements in Edgartown after leaving Community Services.

In September, Harbor Homes got permission from the Oak Bluffs zoning board to temporarily convert its New York avenue property, which operates year-round as a women’s group home, to an overnight shelter for the cold winter months. Ms. Belcastro said the women who were living at the New York avenue group home have been relocated to a different property in Edgartown that the organization will rent for the winter. Programming will continue as normal.

During the permitting process, abutters raised safety concerns and argued that a deed restriction on the property legally limits its use to women only. Harbor Homes attorney Marilyn Vukota argued that a gender-based deed restriction is not legally enforceable.

As Harbor Homes looks for a more permanent location for an overnight winter shelter, board president Jennifer Frank expressed gratitude to the town and neighbors for making the temporary shelter possible.

“We’re grateful to the town of Oak Bluffs and our neighbors that we’re able to use New York avenue this year, and we’re pleased to be able to operate the overnight winter shelter for our guests,” she said.

While the shelter prepares to open for the year, Harbor Homes is also welcoming a new interim executive director, Jeannette De Jesús. Ms. Frank said Ms. De Jesús started at the organization about two weeks ago. Harbor Homes is still searching for a permanent executive director.