City officials voted on Monday to approve a measure change the population served by the Harrington House, bringing to an end one of the few housing options for pregnant and single women in need with children on the Eastside.

The City Council approved a resolution amending the homeless population served and removing the transitional time limitation in the initial Harrington House agreement. Harrington House will now transition from serving homeless or very low income women with children to helping for homeless men and women.

The facility, built and operated by the Catholic Community Services of King County 15 years ago, has faced funding issues and has run up a deficit totaling $107,000 this year ending June 30.

In a letter written to supports, the organization outlined the points of financial strain. Their operating endowment ran out several years ago, and government funding only covered six percent of the program’s budget. They were unable to fill the funding gap through local or private donors.

“What it comes down to is that this program has incurred, year after year, an operating deficit,” said Flo Beaumon, Catholic Community Services associate director.

The building will be repurposed to serve homeless persons of both genders, but not children. Housing children is significantly more expensive than housing adults due to the required resources, according to Beaumon.

Catholic Community Services is planning on ending the current program by August 31. They will no longer manage the Harrington House after that time, and another service provider that has a housing subsidy will take over operations. The name of the new service provider was not public at press time.

The families currently living at the Harrington House will not be able to stay in the facility after it passes under new management, but they will not be turned out onto the street.

Catholic Community Services stopped taking referrals for new residents earlier this year, so only four families resided in the facility this summer. The organization is currently looking for alternative housing for those families.

“We’re committed to finding them housing, we’re not just going to put them out on the street. They will be relocated to other housing or comparable shelters,” said Beaumon.

The organization pledged in a letter to supporters that it will be expanding its support of pregnant and parenting families on the Eastside through a new state program called Prepares. The program will provide services for pregnant mothers and children through age five.