COVINGTON, Ky. – A northern Kentucky non-profit just opened a new facility that’s doubling its capacity to help the homeless population in the region.
People staying at the new Welcome House in Covington say the support the new center can provide them is helping them turn their lives around.
There weren’t many places Elizabeth Wheatley felt welcome until she found herself at the Welcome House.
“It’s really hard out there. You feel all alone. I struggle with depression and I came here, and it was just like there was a group of people that came around and just held me up and let me know I wasn’t in this alone and they got me connected with resources and I’ve always got somebody to talk to if I’m having a rough day,” Wheatley said.
It was a similar story for Angel White.
“Before I came here, I was going to run away from everything,” White said. “They bumped me up the list to come here. I was like, ‘God, thank you.’ And I’m getting my life rededicated and getting baptized.”
Welcome House has been serving the homeless population in northern Kentucky for 40 years. But the “welcome” was starting to wear thin at the old facility, which was built in the 1800s.
“It had a lot of wear and tear. It wasn’t really ADA accessible. We couldn’t take people who were in wheelchairs. So this new facility is about 25,000 square feet. It gives us the opportunity to serve double the capacity of what we were before. We’re always running a waiting list,” said Welcome House CEO Danielle Amrine.
Amrine said there’s a very high need right now for the services Welcome House provides to women, children and two-parent families, which is a population Amrine said only the Welcome House serves in the region. It also provides services in Lake Cumberland, Buffalo Trace, Maysville and Lexington.
Services aim to resolve and prevent homelessness. The average stay is 65 days.
“We shelter them until we can get them on to the next phase of their life. Hopefully that’s positive housing. A job, id’s, birth certificates, basically any kind of barrier that they’re encountering to getting into positive housing, that’s what we’re here to resolve,” Amrine said. “I believe wholeheartedly that we’re making long-term changes.”
Wheatley and White said they know the new building can change lives, because it’s already changed theirs.
“I’ve been encouraged to take the small steps to get back into school and finish out my schooling. Seeing this brand new building has even, I have a long-term goal to open my own nonprofit for sex trafficking victims,” Wheatley said.
White said she’s found purpose helping with chores around the facility, and she wished she could do more.
“I’m actually two months clean from everything and before I would think I would stay in my room, not go out, I would not eat or nothing, but when I came here they opened my eyes that there are people out there for me at the end of the day when I need them the most,” she said. “These ain’t my roommates or friends. These are my family, my sisters.”
Amrine said 75% of the people Welcome House serves gain access to positive housing. Welcome House served almost 5,000 people last year.