The Meeting Street shelter will feature three- and five-bed suites so families can “parent in private,” Denaux said. Currently, families are separated by cubicle dividers that offer little privacy and no sound barrier.
These units are meant to serve as temporary housing until a more permanent home is found, like one of the apartments in the floors above.
Jess Beanard, who is part of One80 Place’s street outreach team, said the families she works with are “ecstatic” about the promise of more space.
“They can’t wait because our shelter is typically always full with families,” Beanard said, adding that there aren’t a lot of other options for families.
These families are particularly vulnerable. They’re often headed by young, single moms with more than two children, and fear interactions with authorities. These parents often worry their children might be removed from their care, but being homeless doesn’t mean a parent is neglectful, Denaux said.
“These children are being cared for,” Beanard said. “Their needs are still being met. It’s just they don’t have a roof over their head.”
Just before turning 18, Beanard lived with her mother in a car through her last year of high school in Columbia. She understands how hard it can be to trust someone offering services that might not work out. But she continues to show up, and though it might take time, every family she’s worked with has eventually found shelter through One80 Place or one of its partners.
“Jess and her co-workers come back,” Denaux said. “They deliver on their promises and they don’t overpromise.”
It’s that consistency that has proved effective, Denaux said, hoping that this new shelter and apartments are yet another promise delivered.
What’s more, over 90 percent of those placed in housing through her organization are still there two years later.
One80 Place will offer comprehensive support services to all its residents, including case management, health care, tenancy support and legal services. The ground floor of the new building will also feature a “micro market” stocked with free cleaning supplies, hygiene products and food.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
