By Jim Kinney | jkinney@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD — It’s still a month before move-in and there is already a waiting list for the 36 new studio apartments Friends of the Homeless unveiled Friday on its Worthington Street campus.
It’s a $20 million project constructed over 16 months at 775 Worthington St.
The apartments — each with basic furniture, a bathroom with shower, cooktop, microwave and refrigerator — are supportive housing, said Karin Jeffers, president & CEO of Friends of the Homeless parent organization Clinical & Support Options.
“It’s their permanent apartment,” she said.
An apartment that comes with help, and staff for those working through health, mental health and substance issues.
“It’s the difference between living on the street or a shelter and having a home,” Jeffers said. “For many of these people, for the first time. Or the first time in a long time.”
The apartments are eligible for the federal Section 89 program. Residents pay rent based on their income.
The supportive housing model sees a place to live not as a goal, but as the foundation for a person’s recovery.
“It’s the peace of knowing that they have a place to come home to every single night. These 36 apartments in Springfield may seem like a number on paper, but to 36 people who will call them home, they are,” she said, “the difference between surviving and belonging.”
U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, described it as a “trampoline” where people who have hit bottom can find themselves headed back up.
Of the $20 million, $12 million came from federal programs. Those programs include the American Rescue Plan, which passed during the worst of COVID, and low income housing tax credits.
Neal reminded listeners of his role passing both the rescue package and tax credits as chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means.
“I’m immensely proud of the low income housing tax credit for a lot of different reasons, largely because I oversaw it and when it was on death’s door, saved it.” he said.
The city of Springfield provided $500,000 toward the cost. Various funding sources made up the difference.
The project was designed by Jones Whitsett Architects Inc. and constructed by Western Builders.
Federal support to run permanent supportive housing programs like these is under attack and tied up in the courts today, Jeffers said.
When folks apply, it’s up to the Springfield-Hampden County Continuum of Care to decide who gets priority. The Continuum of Care is a consortium of 10 agencies working to address the needs of the chronically homeless, those who return to shelters or the streets again and again.
Earlier this week, Clinical & Support Options also cut a ribbon on a $27 million project at its campus on Wells Street in Greenfield, a project that includes 36 studio apartments, like in Springfield, as well as temporary shelter for 42.
In Springfield, The Friends of the Homeless Shelter already has 119 supportive housing apartments and room for 200 shelter guests a night.
The new building at 775 Worthington takes the place of a building where the city’s fire department once stabled horses for its fire wagons.
Later, it was a bar and restaurant and, in the end, the 5th Alarm strip club.
In January 2021, Clinical & Support Options bought the 5th Alarm property for $336,345, including a parking lot across the street. The club closed during the pandemic.
Clinical & Support Options demolished the 5th Alarm building.
