HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — The Huntington Homeless Services Hub, also known as "The Hub," will be opening its doors on Saturday, providing homeless individuals in Huntington with a safe and warm place to stay overnight.

President and CEO of Valley Health Systems Mathew Weimer said having access to shelter is one of the first and most important steps to further address issues people are experiencing.

"We understand that that is necessary for individuals to be able to start building towards better health in other ways," Weimer said. "If you don't have safe shelter at night, especially as we get into the winter months, it's hard to take care of your medical conditions, your mental health conditions."

The Hub, opening in partnership with the City of Huntington, Valley Health Systems and other local resources, has been broken down into phases. Phase one, which is now completed, is providing a place to stay and a hot meal. Weimer said it's important to meet basic needs before starting to tackle healthcare and mental health

"These systems are hard to navigate on the best of days for individuals without a whole lot of challenges when you start to layer on, whether it be health issues, financial issues, transportation issues, trying to get access to some of those services that folks need is really difficult at times," Weimer said.

Mayor of Huntington Patrick Farrell said phase two hopes to provide a more one-stop shop to provide more wraparound services.

"So the first phase was to get an emergency shelter open, right, and to provide, that's what we're doing," Farrell said. "The second phase is to provide clinical services where we get housing and treatment and real care for addiction services, our mental health treatment, all in one place. And that's going to come in later phases as we get our partners back together."

Farrell said the winter storm at the start of the year helped spark the idea for The Hub. With the new low barrier shelter set to open, Eyewitness News asked Mayor Farrell how the City of Huntington has been involved with funding The Hub, and will it continue once it opens?

"The City of Huntington spent $1 million from opioid settlement funds to renovate this space," Farrell said. "We gave it to Valley Health who then contracted with Neighborgall Construction to provide the renovations to what was at Public Works Building.

"So it's the City Property, the City Building that was renovated with opioid dollars. We're also going to provide $30,000 a month to Valley Health to sustain it long term."