Seeds of Hope homeless shelter seeks additional housing from Ross County Land Bank
CHILLICOTHE― The Seeds of Hope homeless shelter is hoping to collaborate with the Ross County Land Bank to create a new transitional housing unit in Chillicothe.
The Land Bank acquires soon-foreclosed or vacant homes in Ross County and works to improve the land, either through demolition or rehabilitation.
Judy Wells from Seeds of Hope has proposed receiving a house from the landbank, either by purchasing it or receiving it as a donation and, in exchange, repairing the home and transforming it into a transitional housing unit.
Development director Asti Powell said the Land Bank has previously donated or sold property to Community Action and Habitat for Humanity for charitable purposes.
Seeds of Hope currently has three dorms, which are considered emergency shelter, where individuals and families can stay for up to six months. The shelter has one transitional housing unit that individuals and families can use for longer periods of time to bridge the gap between homelessness and permanent housing.
Currently, all the beds are full.
"Last year, the shelter received "1,724 phone calls, and of those phone calls 620 of them were for people that are homeless. We have a huge homeless population here," Wells said. "We are determined to help them."
Wells said Seeds of Hope has looked for additional property, but "prices for real estate are crazy." That's when Wells pitched her idea to the Ross County Commissioners to benefit the shelter and the city, an idea that has worked well for her in the past.
While working as the superintendent of Apollo Career Center in Lima, Wells acquired a house in need of rehabilitation. Her students in the construction program helped to rehabilitate the property and, at the end of the school year when the house was repaired, the school district auctioned off the house.
As per her proposal, after acquiring the house from the Land Bank, Seeds of Hope would collaborate with Pickaway-Ross Career and Technology Center Superintendent Johnathan Davis to receive help from the construction and carpentry students and rehabilitate the house.
"I believe we can play a pretty important role in a couple of different facets," Davis said. "We have incredible teachers who have a heart for community service... We want to give them the skills but we also want to give them a heart for the community."
Davis said his students have worked on similar projects in the past.
Luke Feeney, Chillicothe mayor and chair of the Land Bank, said he supported the idea.
"I think transitional housing, to my understanding, is really one of the big missing links right now," Feeney said. "How do you get from homeless to affording the rent on your own? So I love the concept."
Feeney said if the two organizations could come to an agreement, the Land Bank would sell or donate the land to Seeds of Hope, with the condition that it must be used for the specified purpose.
Megan Becker is a reporter for the Chillicothe Gazette. Call her at 740-349-1106, email her at mbecker@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @BeckerReporting.
This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Seeds of Hope shelter seeks help from Ross County Land Bank, PRCTC
