Groundbreaking held for new homeless shelter in Sikeston
SIKESTON, Mo. (KBSI) – The Delta Area Economic Opportunity Corporation broke ground on a new homeless shelter in Sikeston Wednesday morning.
The new shelter will be located on Kathleen Street, between Scott and Stoddard.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Joel Evans, president and CEO of DAEOC. “It’s been almost three years since we applied for this money.”
DAEOC received the money through an ARPA grant (American Rescue Plan Act).
“We’re excited to have this project,” Evans said. “Our homeless shelter was always full, and we always had a waiting list and had some challenges. We were in a flood prone area and the floods ended up getting us and closing that shelter.”
The new shelter will be about three times the capacity of the old shelter.
Evans says homelessness in rural areas is different than what you see on television or what you see in big cities. He said in rural America, they blend into the fabric of the community. Those who have no home aren’t as obvious.
“The homeless in our community are living in buildings that aren’t fit for habitation — living in cars, living in tents. Hopefully we can give them a facility that will give them the shelter they need to be successful and the staff there can provide wrap-around services that can help them address the issues that have led to them being in a situation of homelessness,” Evans said.
DAEOC staff will help the homeless address those bottom-tier needs of safety and security so they can work on the areas that are higher up on the hierarchy of needs.
By doing that, Evans says those who stay at the shelter can work on education and some of the other problems that may have led to being homeless.
Many of the partners that helped make the new shelter were in attendance for the groundbreaking, but Evans gave special recognition to the Land Clearance Redevelopment Authority (LCRA) and
The city of Sikeston donated the lot to DAEOC. The Land Clearance Redevelopment Authority also helped with the shelter development.
Evans says Sikeston Department of Public Safety Chief Jim McMillen described the block as being one of the most crime ridden blocks in Sikeston just a few years ago.
“The homes were derelict, and folks were squatting in the houses, there was drug use and lots of crime here,” Evans said. “The LCRA cleaned up this lot, cleaned up the deeds to this lot and donated this lot to us to take what was a draw on the city’s assets through the need for law enforcement to being a real asset to the community. We’re excited to be a partner in that and provide that service.”
The new homeless shelter will be more efficiency-like apartment units. There will be 12 units with eight being single-bedroom and four being two-bedroom where families can stay together.
The families will be housed in a unit that looks like an apartment with a kitchenette and bedrooms and their own restroom. Families will not have to be separated. Wrap-around services will also be available by DAEOC staff.
“There are as many reasons for homelessness as you can imagine and we know DAEOC is not an expert in all the fields to address those, but we have the resources and community partners to reach out and address those needs,” Evans said. “Hopefully (it will help) folks to move into more normalized housing and safety.”
