LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Wayside Christian Mission is in the midst of a major construction project in effort to create more room for people living on the street to come inside for shelter.

The first floor of Wayside's location on Jefferson Street in downtown Louisville used to house the organization's offices and, at one time, a child development center. But the children's center closed years ago, and now, construction crews are turning the space into an emergency shelter for women.

"Right now in Louisville, there's a severe deficit of rooms for homeless families," said Nina Moseley, chief operating officer of Wayside. "Everybody is full. So this is going to touch two of our important populations at one time."

The new shelter will include dorms for sleeping, bathrooms, an activities space, dog washing space, and provide shelter for nearly 40 women at any given time. Moseley said when the work is finished, the existing emergency women's shelter upstairs will move there, creating more space for families at the building. She said the family unit never has an empty bed.

"It's very important because, right now, there are families that are living in vehicles, they're living on the streets camping out, and then there's some, of course, that are couch surfing and going from place to place to place, which is terrible for the children, not to mention the adults," Moseley said.

In addition to the construction in this shelter space, the entire building will get new windows and wiring.

Wayside said funding for this new shelter space is coming from grant money from the city and COVID-19 relief dollars.

Work is expected to be finished late this year or early next year. Moseley said the new space will push the total number of family beds available at Wayside past 100.

Related Stories:

Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.