More Columbus children are experiencing homelessness. This group has a plan to help.
Life is hard for families experiencing homelessness with children.
With limited shelters for families in the Chattahoochee Valley, parents run the risk of being separated from their children when facing dire financial hardships.
The Salvation Army of the Chattahoochee Valley plans to break ground on the new Center of Hope on March 5 to help by providing a facility with 17 apartments for families with children. The goal is to break the “cycle of poverty,” director Andre Pereira told the Ledger-Enquirer.
“We’re going to be able to walk them from homelessness to self-sufficiency,” he said.
Plans for the Center of Hope began after the Salvation Army conducted a study in 2017 to assess how the needs of the community have shifted, Pereira said.
The study found a lack of resources for families with children, he said. Their findings were supported by recent point-in-time surveys that showed increases in children experiencing homelessness: the Chattahoochee Valley saw a 50% jump from 2023 to 2024.
Plans were made to build a 21,000-square-foot facility using money from a capital campaign to fill a gap in services for the community, Pereira said.
Families who stay in the apartments can expect a similar experience to an extended-stay apartment, Pereira said. They will have a kitchenette, their own living room and bedroom.
The Center of Hope apartments come in different sizes to accommodate different types of families, he said, including reserved areas for single fathers and single mothers.
“The idea of this building is to help families be self-sufficient while they’re here — to make them feel like this is home instead of a dormitory,” Pereira said.
Families who can’t find shelter end up sleeping in their car or finding someone to take them in for a couple of days, he said, but it’s not a sustainable solution. Previously, the Salvation Army had one dormitory for men and one dormitory for women.
The organization wants to give dignity back to families with the Center of Hope, Pereira said, by ensuring they have a stable place to live and aren’t separated from each other.
Details of the program are still being finalized, he said, and the Salvation Army is looking to partner with other organizations and the government to pool resources. He hopes to support clients with health care, increasing job skills and other needs they may have.
Pereira anticipates families will be able to stay in their apartment for up to six months.
“However … as long as people are continuing to work on their goals, we are not kicking anybody out,” Pereira said. “Our goal is to support them.”
Most people are only a couple paychecks or a family emergency away from facing homelessness, he said, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation.
Helping to reduce homelessness not only supports people experiencing financial hardships, Pereira said, but it also helps the community as a whole. It affects tax dollars, how the community is perceived and public safety.
“It’s a much bigger problem than just having homeless people around,” he said. “These are people, and it’s our role as people to take care of each other.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2024 at 11:47 AM.
