Lexington’s largest homeless shelter will soon open $6.8 million expansion
A $6.8 million expansion of Lexington’s Hope Center that will house homeless veterans is to open in mid-February, Hope Center officials said Tuesday.
The two-story building will have 72 transitional beds for people moving from homelessness to permanent housing, said Jeff Crook, chief executive officer of the center, Lexington’s main homeless shelter for men.
Of those 72 units, 24 will be designated for veterans, Crook told the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council Social Services and Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.
“We are 80% complete,” Crook said. “We expect to be done in early to mid-February.”
Construction on the new building, which is in front of the emergency shelter on Loudon Avenue, began in June. It’s paid for through a combination of American Rescue Plan Act, or federal coronavirus relief funding, veterans funding and private donations.
Crook said they are still raising $1.2 million for the building.
The 24 units on the first floor dedicated to veterans will be single units with kitchenettes. The remaining units will be pods that will have a central living area and two bedrooms with four people in each bedroom or an 8-person living unit, Crook said.
The city allocated $2 million from American Rescue Plan Act funding.
But some council members said they thought the money was also going to renovations and expansion of the Hope Center’s emergency shelter, which provides overnight shelter.
Crook said they have spent approximately $500,000 in other funding for updates to the emergency shelter. Federal coronavirus relief money cannot be used to expand emergency shelters, he said.
David Shadd, director of programs for the Hope Center, said the new transitional housing will free up emergency shelter beds by moving people into the new transitional housing complex.
Councilwoman Denise Gray encouraged the Hope Center to do more to address female veteran homelessness.
Crook said the center has slots and funding available for women veterans, but no female veteran has qualified for those services in the years the center has had the funding. The Hope Center has a recovery program for women on Versailles Road but does not have an emergency shelter program for women.
The main women’s shelter is the Salvation Army on Main Street.
“We know there is a need,” Gray said and encouraged the Hope Center to do more to reach homeless women veterans.
The Hope Center has multiple programs in addition to its emergency shelter for men including mental health and substance abuse services.
According to its 2023 annual report, it provided more than 178,000 nights of lodging and served more than 290,000 meals.
