WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Designs have been drawn up for the new Haven Hope House in Warner Robins, the city-owned homeless shelter on Green Street the city is working to start up.
Mayor LaRhonda Patrick says it took several drafts to get right.
"We're putting in all the work to make sure this building is as amazing as we're anticipating it to be," Patrick said.
When you walk through the shelter now, you'll find an empty building with missing ceiling tiles and a smell of mold.
However, in a few months, you'll see a lot of change.
On the outside of the building, Mayor Patrick says the brick siding will be replaced with a modern warehouse siding. They are also adding a lot more windows. The front entrance door will become two glass doors.
"We will be building on a portion of the building," Patrick added.
That space will be used as a dining and community events hall. It will also provide plenty of place for storage. Patrick says they expect it to seat about 70 people for dining.
"It will be a good place for people in the community to come in and bring services to the people who need them most," she said.
Patrick says the space will have a laundry facility, plenty of bathroom and shower space, and ample space for employees to work.
On the lower level there will be a section with bunk beds for men. Patrick and city homeless liasion Brian Wise expect this to be their group with the most need.
"We also made it flexible depending on what were seeing, how things are moving, that there's a wall here. We can have have males here, females here," Patrick said pointing to the graphic.
The city will house woman on the second floor in single beds.
"They're going to be strengthening that floor to make sure there are no deficiencies in what the floor can handle," she said.
Patrick says they will also have a commercial kitchen which they hope will be a community kitchen, so they can help fight hunger throughout the city.
"We're trying to maximize our space as much as possible," she shared.
So next steps are working to remove the mold in the structure of the building.
"Taking out the sheet rock in the building to check again for that mold that you smell when you walk into the buildings o that we can remediate that. Taking a lot of the ceiling tiles out of the ceiling to see if there's any mold there," she said.
Plus, they also have to put in a bid for construction. Brian Wise says the unhoused community is ready to move in.
"They always ask me, when's the shelter going to be open? When's it going to be open? I always tell them we're getting it as fast as we can," Wise said.
To provide a beacon of home, and a place for safe haven.
"We'll have a place here that can help these people get their lives turned around and get them back off the street and into society. that's our goal." he said
This design does not include a space for families. Patrick says they are looking into applying for a grant to build a two story building in the back that could house families.
They still expect to open between April - June of next year, but that will depend on the mold removal timeline.
Until the shelter is ready, the city is partnering with No Limit Baptist Church to host a warming shelter on nights below 32 degrees.
Wise says the church is opening its warming spot up Wednesday and Thursday night. He says they won't turn anyone away. That address is 1352 Radio Loop Warner Robins.