The doors have shut on a long-standing emergency youth shelter in Ocean County as the nonprofit that operated it pivots to focus on serving homeless families. The number of young people seeking the services of Ocean’s Harbor House has dwindled in recent years. A lack of funding has also been an issue.

Alice Woods, the executive director of Ocean’s Harbor House, said, “The shelter has been a challenge for years and years. The shelter has operated at a deficit for a long time.”

Woods said there has been a much larger demand for family services, so that’s where the focus will go in a county that lacks a full-time homeless shelter.

“There are hundreds of families in Ocean County … in need of shelter,” said Woods. “Many of them are being housed in motel rooms that are very small without the ability to cook dinners and have services.”

Family crisis counselor Marissa Nowoiejski said young people will still have access to Ocean’s Harbor House’s hotline and a 12-bed group home for transitional living.