The empty beds at Howard County’s emergency shelter are always filled by sundown.

Since the pandemic, demand for space in the Columbia facility has risen while people grapple with inflation and housing insecurity, said Mariana Izraelson, executive director of Grassroots Crisis Intervention, the nonprofit that operates Howard County’s emergency shelter.

“We are at capacity at all times, always, every day,” said Izraelson, adding that Grassroots hears from two to three families each week lately. “That was not the norm before COVID.”

So it was with great enthusiasm that Howard County officials and community leaders gathered Monday for a ribbon-cutting on the shelter’s first major expansion since 2008. The newly renovated space inside the Freetown Road facility increases the number of beds to 71, from 51 beds in 2022. Officials expect to add even more beds by next summer, bringing the capacity to 80.

“As housing costs continue to rise and unexpected crises occur, we know that many of our residents can experience housing instability and homelessness,” Howard County Executive Calvin Ball said during the event. “To address these challenges head on, we have taken a multifaceted approach to support our neighbors on their pathway to stable housing. By offering emergency shelter, rapid housing and supportive services, we are striving to ensure that all housing needs are met.”

The new beds became available Dec. 2 through the county’s cold weather shelter program, which provides housing for people through March 28. Grassroots provided cold weather shelter for 73 people during fiscal year 2024, according to a county news release.

People who contact the facility, often single moms with children, only need to answer two questions, Izraelson said: “What do you need?” and “How soon can you get here?”

The shelter provides a warm twin bed, a nightstand, a locker and three hot meals a day to the people who have nowhere else to go. A 24-hour food and hygiene pantry on site also supplies them with necessities such as baby formula and diapers.

The expanded shelter capacity makes it easier for local government to reach people in need, said Kelly Cimino, Howard County’s director of housing and community development.

During a person’s stay at the shelter, the county’s homelessness response system can connect them with other resources such as food assistance and offer pathways to permanent housing solutions.

The goal, Cimino said, is to “make homelessness in Howard County rare, brief and one-time experience.”

The $1 million renovation came more than a year after Grassroots moved its crisis service operations to another location, freeing up part of its administrative building to accommodate more beds, lockers and bathroom space.

Many of the beds were already in use this week and decorated with small personal touches. Quilted bedspreads, nightstands cluttered with toiletries and a pair of flip-flops tucked beneath a mattress hinted to visitors that, tonight, someone would be sleeping there.