SUSSEX COUNTY, Del.- The Immanuel Shelter has helped the homeless during the coldest months for years. After some back and forth issues with management, it will not open this year.

The Immanuel Shelter has operated out of the facility on Oyster House Road in Rehoboth Beach. This shelter was the only location in the Rehoboth Beach, Lewes and Dewey Beach area.

The shelter planned to work with Code Purple in Sussex County. However, both of the shelters conflicted on whether the shelters should be co-ed or not. Immanuel Shelter President Janet Idema said this has become a bigger issue and the community needs to work together.

"Real people freeze, real people die and real people get lost in the sauce because we pretend to only see the beauty of Sussex County and not the hundreds of homeless people on the street," said Idema.

Code Purple of Sussex County said it respects the good work of Immanuel Shelter. Members of Code Purple said there is a lot of work to be done, but it can't happen unless unity happens. There are a number of other Code Purple shelters across the county.

Pieta Shukwit said she is willing to work with authorities in Delaware to open this shelter once again.

"When it comes to human beings, we need to rally together in the Rehoboth Beach and Lewes areas to help people out. There are many people in Sussex County who cannot afford to live under a roof here and it is a shame we are not coming together." said Shukwit.

The Immanuel Shelter said many homeless people are being told to go to other shelters outside of the Cape Region. Local lawmakers in Sussex County said they want to make sure there is a location in close proximity for those in need.

"Each of us need to put other things aside that we are working on, especially Christmas shopping and Christmas lists. We need to focus on the fact that we can't have our neighbors, whether we know them or not, to be stuck in situations where they don't have a place to stay." said state Sen. Ernie Lopez.

The Immanuel Shelter will hold a meeting on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. at the Metropolitan Community Church in Rehoboth Beach. Members of the shelter said it is open for the public to bring ideas to form a solution.