LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Hope Village, the temporary shelter across from the Hope Center’s main campus, is no longer providing shelter and meals.
“By and large, it went pretty smoothly,” said Hope Center assistant director of development Destiny Oakley.
The temporary shelter was erected in November to house up to 160 homeless clients nightly through April 1. Contracts with the various partners and vendors who helped make this happen expired, meaning everyone has to be out on Monday. But that doesn’t mean they’ve been cut loose without any assistance.
“The city was doing weekly, a housing fair at this facility, working with them to get into the rental assistance program, finding affordable housing, and maybe getting them into resources, based on their needs,” Oakley explained of what went on here during the winter, aside from offering a warm place to sleep.
The money used to fund this operation came from leftover American Rescue Plan money the city received during the pandemic. But access to that money will expire this year, even if some remains, so the odds of doing something similar next winter aren’t good. Given the substantial need, Oakley said the work has begun to find more permanent solutions.
“The challenge we did not expect was the need,” she stated. “We planned for a maximum of 160 individuals in that space; that’s what we built it to fit. Within about two to three weeks, we exceeded that,” she continued.
That was during the two or three brutal cold stretches we had, so they brought in bunk beds and additional food, reconfigured the space, and accommodated everyone. In all, 994 unique clients came through the Hope Village this winter.
“Just having the opportunity to extend that hand and know they’re at least safe and warm inside is a great success,” she added.
Security guards were on-site around the clock, and Destiny said that any issues involving the clients were rare and never reached a dangerous level.
