Portland will have an emergency warming shelter this winter.

CommonSpace and First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church have been working with the city to provide a low-barrier warming shelter at the Congress Street church, the city announced Friday. The shelter is funded by Maine State Housing Authority and will operate through the winter during periods of cold weather.

City staff are still finalizing details, including what temperature threshold will trigger the opening of the shelter. Last year, the city’s warming shelter – operated by Greater Portland Peer Services – opened when daytime highs were below 20 degrees.

Last year, that warming shelter nearly ran out of money at the end of February. It was funded by $112,000 from the state housing authority. The city’s press release did not specify how much money has been granted to Commonspace and First Parish to fund the shelter this winter.

Warming centers are usually equipped with comfortable chairs but no beds. They aren’t meant to replace traditional residential shelters but to give people a place to get out of the cold. Usually, nobody is turned away.

A spokesperson for the city said earlier this week that the city’s homeless shelter in Riverside continues to be near capacity with anywhere between zero to 20 beds open each night. The shelter has 258 beds total.