Officials Announce Timeline On New Homeless Shelters
Jan 23, 2019, 12:49 PM
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Lt. Gov. Spence Cox on Wednesday announced a timeline on the completion of three new homeless shelters set to open after the current shelter closes this year.
The Men’s Resource Center and Combined Men’s and Women’s Resource Center in Salt Lake City will have construction complete by May 2019. The transition from the downtown shelter will then take place a month later in June and be fully operational by July.
As for the South Salt Lake Men’s Resource Center, which has had some setbacks, construction will be finished by late summer and be fully operational by the first week of September.
The closure of the downtown shelter, the Road Home, will take place in autumn.
The services provided at these shelters will include employment assistance and case management, food provided on site and a mobile health clinic that will travel to each center.
“We have a transition task group that’s working on the public safety element, so we have representatives from all the different law enforcement as well as private security will be provided within each facility 24/7,” said Preston Cochrane, executive director of Shelter the Homeless.
In total there will be 700 beds between the three resource center shelters, which is enough capacity for a typical night. However, if additional capacity is needed, there will be winter overflow at St. Vincent de Paul on 200 South.
The goal, though, is to have more affordable housing on the back end.
Once the Road Home closes for good, the future of that building will be determined by the state.