LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Here’s a first look at the grounds of the forthcoming city-run homeless camp in Louisville.
There's a glimpse of what Louisville’s city-run homeless camp will look like when it opens later this spring. Volunteers set up seven tents on the site to show what the layout will look like when it opens.
They build the blue tents on a raised wooden bed, and each has electrical outlets running to them. It’s a style of tent commonly used for ice fishing.
Hope Village Executive Director Stachelle Bussey, along with Mayor Greg Fischer and others, updated the progress of the project which will provide tent space for up to 50 people when it opens.
“We call it the Hope Village for a reason,” Bussey told reporters Thursday.
Representatives of several city offices and Louisville nonprofits gathered on the site as landscaping crews continued to clear trees and brush.
“We are very, very particular about what’s happening. People are not just coming here to live but they are coming here for safety and stability and we want this place to look as homey as possible,” Bussey said.
This will be a “referral only” facility and Bussey says those referrals are coming in now.
“The people we want to serve here are absolutely ready to be in transition and ready for the next step, whatever the next step is for them, so it’s strictly referral based. It will come from different organizations,” Bussey explained.
Organizations like Wayside Christian Mission, The Homeless Coalition, Salvation Army and others.
$1.5 million of American Rescue Plan money is being used to build and operate Hope Village initially. Last November, Metro Council designated $89 million in ARP dollars to address several housing challenges in Louisville. Hope Village is phase one.
“To support the city’s plan to address chronic street homelessness and boost affordable housing through immediate, intermediate and long-term solutions, which brings us to where we are today,” Mayor Fischer said.
Mayor Fischer said initially there were delays in materials needed to build Hope Village, but the campsite could open as soon as the end of this month.