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Lifting Up Westchester Reveals Renovated, Expanded Homeless Shelter

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- In a special ceremony proclaiming the inaugural Westchester County Homeless Awareness Day, Lifting Up Westchester revealed the completely renovated Open Arms Men’s Shelter. 

In a special ceremony proclaiming the inaugural Westchester County Homeless Awareness Day, Lifting Up Westchester revealed the completely renovated Open Arms Men’s Shelter.

In a special ceremony proclaiming the inaugural Westchester County Homeless Awareness Day, Lifting Up Westchester revealed the completely renovated Open Arms Men’s Shelter.

Photo Credit: Contributed

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino made the special proclamation while Mayor Tom Roach of White Plains, as well as other legislators from across Westchester County, aided in the ribbon-cutting on Oct. 7, marking one of the most important milestones in the shelter’s history. The event heralded the purchase and renovation of the building at 86 E. Post Road in White Plains that had housed the shelter for a quarter of a century. 

Open Arms Men’s Shelter is the hub of all homeless services in White Plains and is the city’s only transitional and emergency drop-in shelter for single homeless men. It is also the only shelter in White Plains that provides outreach services to the chronically and street homeless. 

The renovation project has pumped $3.4 million into the local economy. The updated facility will have the capacity to shelter 52 individuals in 38 transitional housing units and 14 emergency housing units. It will target homeless single men, including the chronically homeless and individuals struggling with alcohol and chemical dependency or mental illness.

 “We couldn’t be more pleased with the ‘new’ building,” explained Paul Anderson-Winchell, executive director of Lifting Up Westchester. “Equally gratifying is knowing that the leaders of this county are supportive and committed to our agency’s efforts to restore hope and dignity to our neighbors in need, one person at a time.”

In a significant departure from the shelter’s original design, which contained two large dormitories, the new building will have 12 single rooms, five double rooms, one triple room, one quintuple room, one octuple room and only one dormitory space. 

Primary funding for the project came from a $5.7 million grant from the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance Homeless Housing & Assistance Program. 

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