LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- One year after it opened as hotel-style transitional housing, the Arthur Street Hotel is continuing its mission to help people find a permanent place to live.

Those at the hotel provide services to Louisville's homeless population, saying more than 100 people have gotten off the streets and into permanent housing in less than a year after staying at the Arthur Street Hotel.

"In its first year, the Arthur Street Hotel has hosted 319 guests who, on average, had previously spent four-and-a-half years on the streets in Louisville and other cities across the country," said Susan Buchino, executive director of community advocates for resources and empowerment (CARE) at the Arthur Street Hotel.

Buchino said of those 319 people, 162 have now moved into permanent housing. The program at the hotel focuses on housing navigation by helping people with services including assistance with documents and vouchers.

Buchino said the other half of the 319 people are either still at the hotel getting that assistance or are no longer part of the program.

Arthur Street Hotel Sign

Pictured: this image grab taken from video shows the exterior of the Arthur Street Hotel located on Arthur Street off Interstate 65 near the University of Louisville. (WDRB image)

"We address complicated factors instead of ignoring them and refuse to give up," she said. "We work toward a Louisville in which no one sleeps on the streets."

Buchino said a Point In Time count in January 2023 revealed 581 people sleeping outside on a single night in Louisville. 

"That's more than double what it had been the year before," she said.

According to Buchino, data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development show unaffordable housing is the main cause of homelessness. She said a 2020 study linked increases in homelessness to increases in the area's median rent, and that impact has been seen in Louisville.

"Louisville's median monthly rent has increased more than $400 since just 2020, and the number of people who need services has tracked with that," she said.

LDG Development purchased the hotel last year and formed a partnership with advocates like those with Feed Louisville. 

One of the former hotel residents, Eddie Thrasher, said he spent years on the streets before coming to the Arthur Street Hotel. Just recently, he moved out and got his own apartment off South 1st Street.

"It makes me feel like I'm indebted to them for the rest of my life," he said, calling the people at the hotel his family. "I don't know how I could ever pay something like that back."

Those at Arthur Street admit this one location can't solve homelessness on its own but believe the model can work. Buchino said people come to the hotel by referrals from partnering agencies and outreach teams, but it does not have the ability to welcome walk-ins.

Eddie Thrasher, former Arthur Street Hotel resident, shares his story of living on Louisville's streets and now finding permanent housing.

Eddie Thrasher, a former Arthur Street Hotel resident, shares his story of living on Louisville's streets and now finding permanent housing through the assistance of this program. (WDRB photo.) 

"We do not have the capacity to meet the need and the demand," Buchino said. 

In addition to living space, Buchino said there is a need for more people to help with programs that address homelessness.

"Everybody is stretched thin," she said. 

Regardless, she believes the Arthur Street Hotel is serving its purpose.

"This is working," she said.

Thrasher said he had previously stayed in shelters before that were overcrowded and understaffed, but this experience was different. He's now making plans for the future.

"Five years from now, I would see myself working, just like I was," he said. "I haven't always been unemployed. As long as I can keep health problems at bay, a regular Joe like anybody else."

Buchino said the Arthur Street Hotel at 1620 Arthur Street welcomes people who are individuals, couples, people with active substance use and those with mental or physical health conditions.

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