Construction begins on $58 million Louisville campus to house, treat homeless population

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Construction began Tuesday on the Community Care Campus, Louisville's newest multimillion-dollar project to house and care for homeless people.

The $58 million campus is expected to be fully operational in 2027 and include transitional housing, permanent housing, a medical and behavioral clinic, community gathering space and a Louisville Metro Police office.

Volunteers of America will help run the campus, which is in Old Louisville. The buildings it includes are the Vu Hotel and Guesthouse, the C2 event space and a few other locations.

"At VOA, we see every day how homelessness has increased throughout our city and the need for more housing services has become more urgent," VOA President and CEO Jennifer Hancock said in a news release Tuesday. "We have served unhoused families in Louisville for 40 years and my colleagues and I are prepared to address this important issue facing our community."

Community Care Campus drone image — Drone image of area where Community Care Campus will be created. (WDRB drone image)

During a news conference Tuesday, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said Metro Government will allocate $22.5 million from the Kentucky General Assembly toward the project out of the state budget.

"The vision for this project came out of conversations with people across the city who know this issue very well," Greenberg said in a news release Tuesday. "Those conversations helped us identify priority needs like family shelter, medical respite, and permanent supportive housing. Even if we can’t solve everything at once, these are areas where we can make meaningful progress. There’s a critical need for family shelter in Louisville right now, so we’ll be opening the temporary shelter by the end of the year to help meet that need."

The Community Care Campus was first announced more than a year ago. The first phase of construction is expected to create a family emergency shelter. The campus will also offer medical services with partners at UofL Health and Norton Healthcare.

In 2022, nearly 11,000 people were homeless at some point in Jefferson County, according to the Coalition for the Homeless. A report from the coalition found homelessness in Louisville increased by more than 40% from 2018-21. And a majority of that homeless population is clustered around downtown Louisville, which was why the campus' location at South Floyd and East Breckinridge streets was chosen.

Greenberg said last week that the Community Care Campus could be a place to spend the night, a long-term housing solution while looking for something permanent, or just a resource for someone struggling with addiction or mental health issues.

The campus will be created near the current Hope Village, which provides outdoor shelter to help get people off the streets and connected with resources. Greenberg said the Community Care Campus will not replace Hope Village.

"This facility will make it much easier for people experiencing homelessness to get connected with the resources and services they need to get off the streets, get healthy, get housing and get on with building new lives," Greenberg said in a news release. "I am eager to see Phase I of the Care Campus come to life because I know this will benefit all of us."

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