(Crews are building the all female facility on 700 South)
SALT LAKE CITY – Three agencies have been chosen to manage the new homeless resource centers scheduled to open next year.
The largest facility will house 300 men in South Salt Lake, and will be managed by The Road Home. Executive Director Matt Minkevitch says the new center will provide a better opportunity to serve the homeless.
“We’ll have more room for the men who will be staying with us. We’ll have more case management services,” he says.
Some reporters asked if The Road Home has dealt with the safety concerns that were found in a scathing audit that was released earlier this year, and whether people should have similar concerns about the new facility. Minkevitch responded by saying they’ve put in place all of the safety recommendations they were asked to implement. He believes part of the problem was that every homeless person… man, woman and child… swarmed their current shelter. He believes that won’t happen again.
“The sheer numbers of people tuning to one location created security and safety issues with which we were very concerned,” Minkevitch adds.
Other facilities include a 200 bed center exclusively for women. That will be managed by the Volunteers of America of Utah. President Kathy Bray says, “It’s going to be really important to provide a safe environment where the women feel comfortable and secure so that we can serve them.”
She says their main concern is to have everything women need to exit homelessness.
“Some have mental health issues. Others have addictions issues,” she adds.
Catholic Community Services will operate the third facility on Paramount Avenue in Salt Lake City. It will be a co-ed facility that can take in 200 people. All three are expected to open in June of next year.