Love Columbia to start welcoming families to Love Forward Homes Complex in January
Meghan Drakas
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Love Columbia says the construction of its new Love Forward Homes apartment complex is going well and it will start welcoming families in January.
“We are thankful to the many skilled workers in Columbia who have kept us on track,” Love Columbia spokesperson Caroline Roush wrote in an email.
The complex in downtown Columbia will have six, three-bedroom units and four, two-bedroom units that can house up to 10 families in the Love Forward Homes Program.
The Love Forward Complex on East Ash Street in Columbia on Sept. 12, 2025.
Individuals in the program can get four-to-nine months of housing in a transitional home with financial, housing and career coaching. During this time, Love Columbia says families save 30% of their income to pay off debt or to pay for future housing expenses, such as a deposit on an apartment.
Love Columbia says in 2024, it provided 4,144 hotel nights to 162 households along with 1,788 nights of shelter to 13 families in the Love Forward Homes program.
A look inside the Love Forward Homes Complex on East Ash Street in Columbia on Sept. 12, 2025.
The complex broke ground in October 2024 on East Ash Street. Love Columbia shared a video on social media, showing the progress of the buildings construction. Roush said Love Columbia is hoping to have access to the completed building by December to fully furnish it.
Love Columbia says the estimated cost for the apartment complex is $3.4 million and is being paid for with federal American Rescue Plan Act money from the city and Boone County, which kickstarted the original plan for a six-unit complex. In March 2024, the project was estimated to cost $1.6 million. Love Columbia says after a $1.1 million gift from The Crossing Church, the plan expanded to a 10-apartment complex.
Love Forward Homes Complex in downtown Columbia in early March 2025.
Love Columbia says additional groups — including the William Guitar Little Foundation — have partnered with the organization to help bring this 10-plex to life.
The expansion of the complex along with inflation costs helped to add to the larger final costs, the group says. Roush said the early estimate of $1.6 million did also not include furnishings, a playground, fencing, city permitting and fees for the design.