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Flagstaff's ability to house homeless families will be receiving a boost beginning July 1.

Catholic Charities is set to open a combination emergency shelter and transitional housing program. And although the shelter will be able to help up to seven homeless families at once, the demand still heavily outweighs the supply.

The building, which previously housed businesses, was purchased for about $400,000, said Susan Brenchley, regional director of Catholic Charities.

The funding, including refurbishing costs, has come primarily from the federal government and the city, Brenchley said.

The $250,000 to $300,000 annual operating budget comes from a variety of federal and state sources as well as the United Way, church funds and private donations.

The shelter was supposed to be up and running several months ago, but the effort experienced roadblocks in securing funding, Brenchley said.

"It's been a lot of stops and starts," she said.

The shelter focuses on helping families overcome barriers that have led to their homelessness — including debt, substance abuse, limited employment skills and legal problems, Brenchley said.

The program has two components. The first is an emergency-shelter component that can house up to three or four families in dire need of housing, food and clothing. The emergency shelter has four rooms off a common living room and kitchen area for the residents to share for up to three months.

The transitional-housing component contains three separate apartments, with full kitchens, that families can use for up to a year while they learn the skills necessary to find permanent housing on their own, said Charlie Dean, assistant site director for Catholic Charities, who will be overseeing the shelter's operations.

Dean added that staffers will be on site to work with the families and get them in touch with the services they need in order to regain permanent housing on their own.

Wenda Meyer, senior program coordinator at Coconino County Community Services, said the new shelter will offer help to seven more families that otherwise would have been staying in motels on county vouchers or doubling up with friends.

"They already have a waiting list when it opens," Meyer said of the new shelter.

On any given month, CCCS is approached by about 120 families seeking some kind of housing assistance. And about half of those families are turned away because of funding issues.

Additionally, the city's low-income-housing neighborhoods have waiting lists of more than two years.

According to the Arizona Community Action Association, Coconino County has a poverty rate of about 18 percent. More than 20,000 county residents live in households making less than $19,000 a year, which makes it a tough proposition to successfully live in Flagstaff's expensive housing market, Meyer said.