Jefferson City Center of Hope hopes to take steps toward preventing, addressing homelessness
Nia Hinson
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Jefferson City’s Center of Hope is expanding its services to help better address homelessness in the city.
The year-round homeless shelter– located on Jefferson Street– opened a new homeless resource center. The center now allows anyone to stop into the center and gain access to resources and support.
“Our caseworkers want to meet with people and see how we can help them,” Major Chris Clarke said. “If there’s anyone who is homeless or who’s facing homelessness, may be facing eviction, we’re here for them and we want to meet with them.”
Clarke said the city started noticing the increased need in services after the 2019 tornado and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s people who are just struggling and sometimes, there’s a lot of people who are just one paycheck away from being homeless,” Clarke said.
Walk-ins will be available 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, according to a news release. Free meals will also be available to anyone in the community at 12:30 and 5:30 p.m.
The center has two case workers, one of which is Kathy Holliday. Holliday said she’s experienced first-hand the toll homelessness can take on a family.
“There’s a lot of children out in the community that are sleeping in cars, hotel rooms, couch surfing…they don’t know where their head’s going to lay that night,” Holliday said.
The center as is, has space for two families, but currently houses four due to the increased need in the community. Holliday said that lack of space becomes problematic for children who have to share bathrooms, especially when it comes to getting ready for school.
Currently, there are nine children in the shelter, meaning nine children share one bathroom. Holliday said there is the need to house a fifth family, but the lack of bathroom space wont allow for it.
That’s where an expansion could help.
The shelter currently operates as a 31-bed facility, but is looking to expand that to 62 beds. They plan to officially break ground on renovations in January, according to Clarke.
Part of the renovations include adding a new wing to the building, designing rooms specifically for families with children that would also give them their own bathrooms. The expansion will create 20 additional beds. Currently, about one third of their residents are children.
Holliday said the expansion could also lead to an increase in trust between residents staying at the shelter and case workers. That, in turn, can also help lead to residents’ goals being reached.
“We will just be able to give them a place to call home so they know where they’re coming to and then that makes it so much easier to do anything else,” Holliday said. “If we can give them the safety, then it helps to give them safety and surety, then it helps them be able to focus on what they need.”
The shelter also plans to add beds to the mens and women’s side of the center.
Scott Johnston, with the Housing the Community Jefferson City, said the need for expanding services is always critical.
“I think as long as we’re turning away people and people are looking for a place to stay at night, it’s really important for the community,” Johnston said.
Johnston told ABC 17 News in June, it is looking for property in Jefferson City to have a one-stop hub for homeless resources. He said on Tuesday they did not have any leads on a specific property.