LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville's homeless centers are building transitional housing to help get people off the streets, thanks to federal funding.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced Wednesday that $32 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding will be allocated to various community programs aimed at helping those struggling with housing.
The funding will be split among five different programs, including the VOA and the St. John Center. Each will build new affordable housing apartments that will be the first of their kind in the city.
About $4.5 million will head to VOA, $17.5 million to the St. John Center, $6.5 million will go to House of Ruth, $3.3 million to Wellspring and $120,000 will go to Choices.
The VOA's Monarch Station and St. John's Sheehan Landing will each have 80 units to help people transition from living off the streets into more permanent housing. Monarch Station will have one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts. Sixty units will be affordable housing — based on income — and the remaining 20 units will be permanent supportive housing.
Sheehan Landing will be all one-bedroom units.
Proposed design for VOA's Monarch Station.
Both sites will also include services like counseling, therapy, career support, social services and have spaces for community programs and meetings to encourage peer support.
"This funding from American Rescue Plan will launch a supportive housing community in Metro Louisville," said Rae Martin, executive director of St. John Center for Homeless Men. "A place with clean, bright, one-bedroom apartments where people who have experienced chronic homelessness can live independently. Because the services they need are in the building. Because people who care about them, know about their situations, are also in the building."
"There's a desperate need for affordable housing in Louisville," added Tamara Reif, senior director of housing services for Volunteers of America. "There are people who are ready to move in that can't find properties to rent that are in their price range."
The VOA site will be by the existing Shelby campus off Bland Street. Reif is hopeful to have more details about construction by the spring.
The St. John Center for Homeless Men is still in the process of finding a location for the build.
Copyright 2022 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
