Commonwealth Catholic Charities was to open an additional 30-bed temporary shelter in Richmond on Thursday, Dec. 22, to keep homeless adults from freezing to death in the Arctic air blast expected to hit Richmond two days before Christmas.

Jason “Jay” Brown, chief executive officer of the charity, said CCC has the resources to operate the shelter nightly for two weeks at 1900 Chamberlayne Ave. in North Side, while it continues to work with City Hall in a bid to secure the financial support to continue and expand to a 60-bed shelter in the new year.

With potentially deadly cold on the way, Mr. Brown said CCC considered it important to make shelter available. “This is what we do,” he said, in carrying out the CCC mission of providing “quality, compassionate human services.”

He said the tentative plan is to operate the shelter from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. nightly, with those needing shelter securing re-ferrals through the Greater Richmond Continuum of Care’s homeless hotline or its outreach team.

Mr. Brown praised the Community Foundation and CCC’s partners at the Greater Richmond Continuum of Care, particularly Homeward and the Salvation Army, for making the opening possible.

His hope is that the city officials will cut through the red tape that so far has held up the planned city financial support for CCC’s operation that the City Council has already approved.

City spokesperson Petula Burks, in response to a Free Press query, indicated that the city also is hoping to have an agreement in place shortly with CCC so that it can move forward as a city contractor to serve homeless single men and women.

CCC’s shelter is taking shape amid a forecast that calls for temperatures in Richmond to plunge into the low teens after sundown Friday, Dec. 23, and again after sundown Saturday, Dec. 24, and then be in the low 20s the next four nights. The

temperatures are predicted to ease temporarily after daybreak Thursday, Dec. 29.

Fifth District City Councilwoman Stephanie A. Lynch, chair of council’s Education and Human Services Committee, called CCC’s shelter essential.

“We have mothers sleeping in cars with their babies, we have folks with mental health challenges, we have elderly people who are living unhoused, and it is absolutely heartbreaking and unacceptable,” Ms. Lynch said.

While the city has set aside nearly $5 million to pay for four shelter operations for the homeless, so far only two have opened.

The city currently has contracted with a church and a nonprofit to operate inclement weather shelters with a total of 100 beds in South Side.

United Nations Church operates a 60-bed men’s shelter in its gymnasium at Wall and West 19th streets at the rear of its campus. RVA Sister’s Keeper operates a 40-bed shelter for women and children in former counseling center at 2807 Hull St.

Both fill up quickly, leaving people who are last in line out in the cold.

Rhonda Sneed, leader of the homeless services provider Blessing Warriors RVA, has posted Facebook videos of men she has come across who were outside with no place to go because the city’s two shelters as well as the dozen shelters other nonprofits operate were already full.

Ms. Sneed, along with other members of her group, has been handing out blankets, food and other supplies to help people sur- vive, including several men who had just been released from a nearby hospital.

She also has begun directing people to the waiting room at the Greyhound bus station on Arthur Ashe Boulevard that is open 24 hours a day. The company so far has allowed people to stay on the benches overnight to keep warm.

Along with trying to make a deal with CCC, City Hall is pushing for quick passage of a special use permit that would enable Fifth Street Baptist Church in Highland Park to open an additional 30-bed shelter. The Planning Commission and City Council are anticipated to approve the permit in the first two weeks of January.