With beds at capacity, Men’s Shelter to build larger Statesville Avenue facility
Men’s Shelter of Charlotte/Urban Ministry Center plans to break ground on a new, 196-bed emergency homeless shelter this spring at its Statesville Avenue site.
The new building will increase sleeping capacity as well as provide space for more case management, housing and employment services, said CEO Liz Clasen-Kelly.
“Our philosophy is yes, we want to meet people’s basic needs, but we also want to provide the services to move our guests out of homelessness,” she said.
The new facility will have a kitchen, laundry services and more private sleeping areas. Offices, a group room and mobile computer lab will provide space for classes and employment services.
Shelter beds are consistently at capacity, Clasen-Kelly said. During recent cold weather about 140 people have slept on mats between the two Men’s Shelter locations on Statesville Avenue and North Tryon Street.
The new shelter will be built behind the current 180-bed facility at 3410 Statesville Ave., meaning no residents will be displaced during construction.
Nearly 3,600 people are homeless in Mecklenburg County, according to recent data.
Honeywell on Thursday will announce a $500,000 donation for the new shelter, part of a larger $4.4 million fundraising campaign. Of that, $2.7 million is already committed to the construction project, which is expected to take nine months, Clasen-Kelly said. The goal is to have residents moved over by the end of next winter.
The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency will provide $500,000, while private donations have made up the rest of the committed money, Clasen-Kelly said. Shelter officials also will apply for funding from the city’s Housing Trust Fund.
Honeywell Chairman and CEO Darius Adamczyk called working with the shelter “an ideal way” for the company to get more involved in Charlotte, where the company relocated its headquarters last year.
“We look forward to dedicating our expertise and passion to help address a number of challenges in our community, including access, equity, and education,” Adamczyk said in a statement.
The second Men’s Shelter location on North Tryon reopened in 2018 after a nearly five-month, $5.8 million renovation, the Observer previously reported. That remodel expanded its capacity from 200 to 230 beds.
The Men’s Shelter and Urban Ministry Center merged last year.
This work was made possible in part by grant funding from Report for America/GroundTruth Project and the Foundation For The Carolinas.
This story was originally published January 22, 2020 at 11:00 PM.