WESTERN BUREAU– The Montego Bay night shelter for homeless persons, which is now getting a $500,000 face lift, will be reopened in October; five months after its doors were closed.

“It will be some time in October,” said Jeremiah Dehaney, the St James Parish Council’s inspector of poor.

The facility, formerly leased by the Committee for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill (CUMI), is located on land adjacent to the St James Infirmary.

The upgraded facility is to house two dormitories, a dining area, a kitchenette, a waiting room, a reception area, a staff rest room and a holding area.

Clients who visit the facility will be screened for offensive weapons as well as drugs, and if they are unkempt they will be given a change of clothing prior to entering the ward, Dehaney said.

He added that when the shelter reopens, the operations of civic groups and individuals that feed street persons will be streamlined and they will have to work closely with the council’s poor relief department.

For example, he said, the feeding of street people — though a worthy gesture — has at least one negative side effect. There have been complaints, Dehaney explained, about the homeless littering the streets after they ate.

CUMI opted not to continue with the night shelter service, which they had offered since 1993, after its client base began to dwindle.