LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- St. Vincent de Paul made it easier for men to stay at its emergency shelter in Louisville.

The Ozanam Inn Men's Shelter on South Jackson Street got rid of its check-in and check-out process, the first emergency shelter in Louisville to make the change.

"This will let our clients using the emergency shelter have even better access to our support services like case management and mental health/substance abuse counseling," said Dave Calzi, executive director and CEO of St. Vincent de Paul Louisville.

Men can now stay 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ozanam can house up to 50 men — including 40 congregate spaces and 10 individual rooms — and offers support services for mental health and substance abuse.

The new access was made possible through a $250,000 grant from Louisville Metro Resilience and Community Services. It has allowed the shelter to hire additional staff to support the around-the-clock services, including cleaners and two new program aids.

"We're also adding a second shift clinical services counselor. That person will be available to work through any mental health or substance abuse issues that anybody wants to work on as well as do de-escalation and conflict resolution," said Jennifer Clark, chief operating officer at St. Vincent de Paul Louisville. 

Men staying overnight will still need to sign in and out every time that they leave but will be able to leave belongings and come and go as they need.

"Our goal is to help more of our residents in crisis find permanent housing," said Clark. "We believe providing more stability in their time at the shelter will support this goal."

Shelter staff, like Clark, "serve hundreds of people in a year" and have seen a big increase in the need in the community.

"We know that before 2018 we were seeing the numbers of people who didn't have housing go down. Then after 2018, the numbers started going up again and that was really concerning. There are definitely hundreds of people today without housing; living in tents without plumbing, without electricity, so those are the people we want to help," said Clark. 

In addition to providing housing, the shelter provides food services to the community through its food pantry. 

Clark says they've seen more people in need of food in recent months and are asking people to donate canned goods and protein. 

For more information on donation needs and how to volunteer at St. Vincent de Paul, click here. 

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