WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The City of Warner Robins' says a new homeless shelter will be a place for the unhoused to receive meals, ministry, and shelter.
Pastor Les Brown has served the unhoused community for 12 years.
"Not everybody can get off work and go home and sit at a dinner table and stay out of the weather," Brown said.
He says under Bruce Brookshire and Grace Fellowship Church he serves people.
At Tuesday night's council meeting, he presented mayor and council with a small gift from Warner Robins unhoused community as a thank you for creating a city owned homeless shelter.
He says they are all very excited about it.
"I was asked to come down and say thank you for even the consideration because homeless are people too," Brown said.
The city hopes to have the shelter open by the start of winter. It will serve 80 people. As they prepare to open they're also preparing for outreach.
Tuesday night, council voted to use a software program called Simtech Solutions.
"It's a software that allows us to track homelessness in our community," Mayor LaRhonda Patrick said. She says they have a rough estimate of 200 homeless people.
Simtech's app "Show The Way" helps them to get a better count and age range to help place folks in housing.
"If they're needing housing and their is housing available we can get them in the pockets they need to be. A lot of organizations also provide housing and the city homeless shelter will be an option as well," Patrick said.
The app will be used by code enforcement, community development, and urban development and other homeless organizations.
"Show The Way" has a community feature too, so once the city launches it, you can download it and report any need you see throughout the city.
Patrick says when they purchase the software they plan to have extensive training so they can utilize every aspect of the app. With the data they will be able to meet mental health and medical needs.
"It can help us to address their potential need, so we can get them off of our streets and get them the assistance they need or help them transform their lives and get them a new life of their own," Patrick said.
Patrick says tracking the numbers will also allow them to apply for grants for federal and state funding.
Patrick says they found out about the software from the United Way of Central Georgia. The organization has been helping the city with their homeless initiative.
The Mayor says they hope to have a partnership with the organization to help them run the shelter.