TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) – Mental Health America of West Central Indiana was selected for a fast-tracked funding program on Monday that will bring a new homeless housing complex to Terre Haute.
“Monday’s announcement is a huge win for our community,” said CEO Myra Wilkey. “Evidence has demonstrated that Supportive Housing is highly effective in helping persons experiencing chronic homelessness reintegrate into the community.”
“Our people [homeless] have lots of barriers to housing and they don’t have the income to pay rents. So it’s the difference of staying homeless or being housed.”
This program, administered by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority in partnership with the Corporation for Supportive Housing, will provide the funding and technical assistance necessary to develop an apartment complex that provides supportive housing for persons experiencing homelessness in the Wabash Valley.
“Liberty Village was phase one of a two part project. The next step is to get approval for construction of phase two,” said Wilkey. “It will be located on the east side of Liberty Village.”
Wilkey expects the project to cost roughly $6 million. She said once funding gets approved the housing will only take 9 to 10 months to build.
“They can work on their spirituality. They can work on being employment ready and those are all things that will come after their housed,” said Wilkey. “Without housing they can’t do all those other things to enrich their lives.”
Proposals for this program, referred to as the 2020 Indiana Permanent Supportive Housing Institute, were solicited from organizations statewide.
MHA of West Central Indiana’s proposal was selected, in addition to those of three organizations in Indianapolis and one in Fort Wayne.
MHA of West Central Indiana currently operates three Terre Haute multi-family developments that provide housing for area residents experiencing homelessness: Younity House, Younity Village and Liberty Village.
Each development targets different demographics in the community, which provides multiple options for housing the diversity of persons experiencing homelessness. This new development primarily focuses on families that are living without any housing.
