A brand new $13 million building in downtown Nashville will now act as a service hub for the homeless. Its mission is to get the chronically homeless stable and independent.
The five-story center feels like a new college dorm. There are computer labs, bright rooms with comfy chairs for socializing, even community laundry rooms.
Room in the Inn is behind this project. The non-profit partners with churches to shelter the homeless during the winter. Its old campus did have some outreach services but space was cramped. Now the center can hold a few hundred visitors a day, many who’ve been on the street for more than a year and are battling addictions or illness.
Room In The Inn’s Founding Director, Charles Strobel, says that population often resists help but the center’s new welcoming space will be a draw.
“We don’t claim that we have any secret to helping but we do have something that is consistent in their minds and that is that we’re always here.”
Strobel, says the idea for a one-stop shop has been in the works for years.
“So that the homeless would avoid what they referred to at the time as the shuffle. You went one place for food, you to went another place for shelter you went to another place for clothing you went to another place for health care.”
Churches and foundations have donated $7 million for construction. The other $4 million came from government grants. Room in the Inn still needs to raise $2 million for operating expenses.
The new building also has 38 furnished, affordable apartments available for men who complete on site recovery programs.
Previously, only transitional housing was offered on site. The new facility now has 38 permanent apartments as well. They’re available for men who complete on site recovery programs
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM