Pensacola's largest women and children's shelter is on the brink of closing. Here's why.

Heather Mahon has dealt with addiction off and on for 30 years and she is ready to make change.

Not only is she kicking her habit, but she is getting back on her feet financially and focused on building the kind of life she wants, one that is stable, predictable and peaceful.

Doing that required resources she didn’t have in her hometown of Apalachicola: an affordable place to live, a job, counseling and drug treatment.

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“There were no jobs there,” Mahon said of Apalachicola. “There was nothing but drugs there, methamphetamine, there's things like that. So, I chose to come to Pensacola to start over. It's close to me and I heard a lot of good things about it. I came to be able to see doctors, to be able to get a job and to be able to have somewhere to stay as well.”

Mahon said she found the support she needed to rebuild her life at REAP Lodges Transitional Shelter in Pensacola.

She entered the program about a month ago.

For $10 a night she has safe, clean, affordable lodging and food, as well as case management that has connected her with treatment programs and other resources available in the community.

She’s also starting a new job at a fast-food restaurant and feels she’s moving in the right direction.

“Staying here, it means everything,” Mahon explained. “This is my total foundation to start my life again.

Except her time at the shelter may be short lived.

Vinnie Whibbs, executive director for Re Entry Alliance Pensacola, Inc’s sent a letter to “all residents and employees of the Lodges” stating that the operation “has been unable to secure sufficient local funding” to keep it going and will close its doors in two weeks, on Sept. 1.

“As of that date the building will be locked, all utilities turned off, all occupants should have relocated, and all employment terminated,” Whibbs wrote in the letter.

Whibbs said they are looking for additional funding to keep the doors open, as well as places for people to go if they can’t. There are currently 26 adults and 11 children staying at REAP Lodges Transitional Shelter.

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Whibbs said they average about 45 people a night. Some stay for one or two days, others who commit to their program can stay up to 90 days, and longer, if they are making progress and need the additional time.

After the first month, resident get seven free nights each month they are there, which works out to $240 a month.

Those who run the shelter say the goal is to give people the help and resources they need to become independent.

“Not everyone has somewhere to go,” said Eddie Myrick, the shelter’s program director. “Not everyone has that family structure or that social group that they can go to if they were to have to exit. Not everyone has help. That's why they're here. They come here to get help to get back on their feet and get back in the place of where they can be self-sustaining their own.”

Without a place to go, some may return to bad habits and undo the progress they’ve made.

“A lot of these ladies, they are sober, but if they go back on the street they're going to use it again and it's just not something we want,” explained Chris Schang, assistant program director. “We're kind of the saving grace for single woman in this area and single mothers with children. We get 10 to 20 phone calls a day from people needing beds and that's an issue. The big question for Pensacola is where are they going to go if we shut down?”

It’s a question that comes up time and again when it comes to sheltering those who are homeless.

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The shelter opened two years ago and Whibbs said it costs about $350,000 a year to operate. They’ve received money from the city of Pensacola and Opening Doors, Northwest Florida’s lead agency on homelessness, but it’s not enough to cover daily operating expenses, Whibbs said.

He’s hoping Escambia County will come through with funds to help.

Escambia County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh has asked that the issue be added to the agenda for discussion at the next board of county commissioners regular meeting.

“With respect to the vexing topic of eliminating/reducing homelessness locally, we need more folks on the front lines helping not fewer,” said Bergosh.

The meeting is at 9 a.m. Aug. 16 at the Ernie Lee Magaha Government Building, 221 Palafox Place in Pensacola.

For residents like Mahon, closing the shelter is a setback they can’t afford.

“This is my chance to be accountable for myself and to do things for myself,” Mahon said, “and to just be in a place where I don't necessarily have a reputation that's going to follow me no matter who I am now.”

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola REAP Lodges, largest women and children's shelter, to close