FORT SMITH - Fort Smith will not release nearly $500,000 for a proposed homeless campus south of downtown until the coalition developing the campus can show that it has the plans and finances to open it.
Meanwhile, the Old Fort Homeless Coalition continues to make progress on its efforts to open the homeless facility dubbed the Riverview Hope Campus. The coalition wants to locate the campus in an idle Riverside Furniture Co. factory building at 301 South E St. to consolidate services for thehomeless in the Fort Smith area.
“It’s a dream that has been done in other cities and I think it could happen in Fort Smith,” coalition President Ken Pyle said Friday.
City community development director Matt Jennings said Friday that the city has approved $473,344 in Community Development Block Grant money for the proposed campus.
But first, the coalition will have to come up with a plan on how it will provide services to the homeless, the cost of executing the plan and letters of commitmentfrom the funding sources, Jennings said.
He said the city is not going to spend public money on the proposed campus until it knows how that money is going to be used to benefit the homeless, a standard requirement the city follows when doling out public funds.
He said he hasn’t seen such a plan from the coalition yet.
Pyle said last week that the first phase of developing the campus is to install Next Step Homeless Services, the anchor tenant, and homeless-programs director Debbie Everly in offices in the building and build a low-demand shelter for the homeless.
The low-demand shelter would provide a bed, shower, food, medical care, property storage, kennel and other services for homeless people as the first step to helping them recover and become functioning members of society.
Riverside has agreed to sell the building to the coalition for $620,000, and Pyle said it could cost another $1.7 million to renovate it for the first-phase uses.
So far, the coalition has gotten approval for a $500,000 grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas along with the Fort Smith’s community development money and other small grants for a total commitment so far of $1.2 million.
He said the remaining $500,000 needed to fill the funding gap probably will have to be made up with a series of smaller grants.
Everly said a local corporation is considering an inkind donation of equipment that could reduce the campus renovation cost by $150,000. The coalition also has received a $50,000 donation for the proposed homeless campus from a local family, she said.
The continued search for funds to develop the campus has pushed back the estimated opening of the homeless facility to the end of 2014 or spring of 2015, Pyle said.
The delay in raising sufficient funds also has led to the need to extend the letter of intent with Riverside to sell the building. The letter of intent expires Monday, Pyle said, but Riverside officials have agreed to extend it.
Despite the setbacks, Everly said, interest in participating in the campus is growing.
“There are a lot of skeptics who think we’re not moving ahead with this project, but it’s happening,” she said.
The Salvation Army wants to move its location from downtown to the Riverview Hope Campus property, where it would include offices and shelter for the homeless and others in need, and that could cost as much as $3 million, spokesman James Reddick said.
He said the organization also may pay for demolishing 30,000 square feet of the Riverside factory’s 127,000 square feet to make room for the Salvation Army building on the site.
The Salvation Army’s move would be tied to the coalition buying and renovating the old factory building, he said.
Other organizations have expressed interest in providing services for the proposed homeless campus, Everly said, including the Christian Job Corps, Good Samaritan Clinic, Fort Smith Adult Education and Camp Hope for Heroes, which offers services for homeless veterans.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 09/28/2013