Why SafeHouse Ministries will close Columbus day center and sell the building
SafeHouse Ministries will close its day center, 2101 Hamilton Road in Columbus, at the end of the month, but the nonprofit organization will continue its goal of helping homeless people in the community.
The day center is used as a space of respite where homeless people can get breakfast and lunch, mail services and use a computer.
Neil Richardson, executive director of SafeHouse Ministries, said the move comes after the decline in the amount of homeless people the group is helping after housing hundreds of people over the past few years.
Richardson said, when the charity moved to its current location in 2012, 80% of the people they were helping were homeless.
“That stayed about the same for three or four years, then we added the substance abuse program, and we ramped up our shelters,” Richardson told the Ledger-Enquirer.
As of June of this year, 26% of the people SafeHouse helps are homeless, with the remainder being people who are housed, according to Richardson.
He said this comes after a record-breaking year for the organization after they successfully housed 165 people in 2024. SafeHouse has housed 133 people in the first six months of 2025, according to Richardson.
Richardson said he tested the data by checking to see how many people get their mail delivered to the day center. He said the amount of people who got their mail delivered to the center dropped from the hundreds down to 52.
Richardson said he thinks there are two groups of homeless people: “I don’t want to be homeless; I’ll do whatever it takes to stop being homeless” and “I’m OK right now.”
He said those 52 “are people that are not willing to take steps to stop the situation.”
“So, what we think we have is pretty much housed most everybody in the ‘I don’t want to be homeless’ category, whether it be into one of our shelters or directly into permanent housing,” he said.
Richardson talked more about the homeless people who don’t seek to be housed and said, “If most of the people that we’re serving are in that group that’s not ready for help yet, are we trending towards enabling? I think we are.”
“I think we’ve been so successful in getting anybody that wants off the streets, off the streets, that the only smart decision to stay on mission is to close the place down,” Richardson said.
Richardson said the group will become more shelter-based. People experiencing homelessness who need the organization’s help can call 211 or 706-322-3773.
The day center is housed in what was formerly the Rose Hill United Methodist Church.
When asked about SafeHouse’s future plans for the building Richardson said, “We’re going to put it up for sale.”
Weather shelter
The day center has previously been used as a warming center to shelter the homeless when temperatures dropped below freezing.
After the day center closes, SafeHouse will send vans every 30 minutes to places where homeless people hang out and take them to one of their shelters.
“If it’s a multiple-day event, we’ll deal with them at the locations,” Richardson said.
“Before we ever opened a warming station, we had a guy die. So, we’re never gonna go back on that commitment,” Richardson said.
SafeHouse still will accept donations for cold weather events. Donations can be dropped off at the shelters or at pickup locations announced on SafeHouse’s social media pages, according to Richardson.
This story was originally published July 21, 2025 at 5:04 PM.