The Firehouse Shelter in Birmingham, Alabama, currently operates its emergency homeless shelter for men out of a building that is old, inefficient, and too small to handle the volume of people it serves. The current building is so small men are
forced to sleep on cots in the dining room, and necessary services are not able to be performed due to lack of space and privacy. The homeless in our city and state deserve better than what we can provide, and the only solution is to move to a new site that will feature a building designed specifically for the chronically homeless population. Additionally, it is paramount that the shelter have space to nurture the subpopulations of the subpopulation of chronic homelessness- specifically, families, the physically and mentally ill, and the youth.
We have been engaged in a capital campaign for several years regarding the overall construction effort. We are seeking this grant specifically to fund the Youth Housing section of the new emergency shelter. Youth Housing targets the vulnerable youth ages 18-24 to make sure they have not only crisis mitigation resources, but also immediate housing transitional support and intensive case management if they are so desirous.
As you can see from the attached schematics, the Youth Housing section is a small part of the overall plan. (On pages 1 and 3 of the schematics, I have crudely outlined in blue the proposed Youth Housing section.) This section, however, is integral to the expansion, as serving the needs of young people is essential.
The Firehouse, at its core, is an agency that serves the hardest to reach chronically homeless population in a variety of ways that are specifically tailored to the unique needs of the individual. We, as an agency, are committed to being nondiscriminatory and open our doors to anyone who needs help, especially those facing a multitude of barriers including mental and physical disabilities and substance abuse. We are a faith based agency that fully embraced the best practice “Housing First” model before it was required, and our proposed shelter will allow us to continue with that model even in an emergency shelter. Although permanent housing is considered a better housing option for the homeless, an emergency shelter is paramount in all areas, especially those with high poverty rates like Birmingham. Our shelter is, and will continue to be, the only shelter with no length of stay cap and accepting of those who are unable or unwilling to receive treatment right away. This harm reduction model allows us to house the most vulnerable, and has facilitated our housing many that have been deemed "unhouseable" by other agencies.
The new building (estimated open date 11/1/19) will allow us to use innovation to serve the subpopulations that currently are underserved or neglected, which is why we have added respite housing, youth housing, family housing, and late intake housing. All three of these programs have been deemed necessary by HUD and have been supported by research as integral in decreasing homelessness in vulnerable populations. Research from 2009-2018 has shown that both Housing First and harm reduction models are crucial in providing services to the homeless. The emergency shelter will act as a springboard to housing, and the Firehouse participates in another best practice program- coordinated assessment. The new shelter will allow the coordinated assessment team to be onsite more frequently, allowing easier access to comprehensive services. The new building will allow us to serve more homeless in a holistic, comprehensive way, reducing stress on the guest and streamlining services so men are able to smoothly transition into permanent housing from street homelessness.
The most vulnerable of these populations is youth, ages 18-24. Currently, the only youth oriented shelter is out of city center, requiring youth to board a bus and be transported to another county in the evenings. Many youth that come to the Firehouse have multiple barriers, including substance abuse, untreated mental health issues, and often identify as LGBTQ, which, as a group, are the most vulnerable of the youth population in rate of suicide and increased health risks due to survival behaviors stemming from inadequate support networks.. The current shelter setup groups all participants together in one big military barracks style room. The proposed shelter will allow a safe space in which youth may (voluntarily) dwell. There will be increased case management to follow the young guests and the agency will work diligently to streamline services to make sure the youth get into you proper care settings as quickly as possible. We will partner with existing agencies, such as Youth Towers and Birmingham Aids Outreach, to provide onsite resources and suitable permanent housing case plans to minimize shelter stay time. The money requested will go building, furnishing, and operating the youth space.
There are an estimated 550,000 homeless under the age of 24 in the United States. The population served by the Firehouse is primarily chronically homeless- we serve all people through our feeding and street outreach programs, but sleep those who are homeless and identify as male.
Timeline and Success Indicators:
The Firehouse Shelter anticipates a 10 month build time and that it will be able to move its staff, programs, and guests to the new location at 626 2nd Avenue North in Birmingham, Alabama by late 2019.
Indicator 1: Increase the amount of youth services offered at the emergency shelter as to provide a more seamless
service delivery system to homeless ages 18-24. The project will compare current number of services provided currently (January 2019) to the amount of services and increase service transactions by 15% at the one year mark of occupation in the new shelter (January 2021).The project will collect data using HMIS recording systems and track success rate through services provided numbers.
Indicator 2: Complete a shelter build that will offer a minimum of 8 dedicated youth shelter beds and case management services open to all youth ages 18-24. Youth shelter beds will be built in a separate area from the main dormitory and will a voluntary service, meaning it is an option, not a requirement.
This money would supply furnishings for this youth area (beds, mattresses, linens, dressers, dividers, chairs) and partial support for youth oriented case management activities. This youth area would be a part of an overall building project that will bring a sense of dignity to our clients. As you can see from the attached Exterior Views, the building will reflect the dignity that our clients deserve. And giving our homeless a youth a sense of that same dignity is extremely important. So we are looking forward to an opportunity to give these youth a safe space within the confines of an overall building that tells them that they are important and that they matter.
The Firehouse is supported primarily in 3 ways - grants, donations, and fundraising. 92 cents out of every dollar goes directly to supportive services, and the Firehouse was noted in the most recent HUD competition as being the most cost effective overall of any agency, and as offering the #1 program in the homeless continuum. The Firehouse has 5.6 million dollars pledged to building construction as of December, 2018. We expect to keep all grant funding that has been applied for, and we believe that a new shelter will back our agency more attractive to new volunteers and donors. We anticipate increased city support as we will be providing unduplicated and necessary programs that the City needs to continue receiving HUD funding.
We have done an operations study to make sure the Firehouse can sustain a larger building. We anticipate yearly building operating costs to be around $90,000-$100,000, roughly a $10,000 difference. However, that gap will be closed when you factor in the decrease in repairs ($40,000 in 2017) and the increase in building energy efficiency. We will be pursuing opportunities with utility companies, including Alabama Power, to fully buy in to making this emergency shelter better for the environment and cost effective. We will be able to utilize volunteers more instead of paid staff which will mitigate increased staffing expenses, and we will apply for new grants in tandem with other organizations to provide specialized case management and services.
The youth space for which this money is requested will be managed in the same way. We anticipate that the sustainability of the entire project, including the youth space, will be sustainable indefinitely. The initial construction and implementation of the building, including this area for youth, is our focus at this time. This grant would allow us to proceed with the overall expansion of the Firehouse Shelter and would allow us to offer, for the first time, this youth amenities services for which there is a great need in our community.
Total Funding Requested: $20,000
Funding Date Requirement: 11/01/2019
Summary and/or Supporting Documents: Schematics.pdf
Initiative Video or Related Links: None provided
Nonprofit Name: Firehouse Ministries
Nonprofit Website: https://firehouseshelter.com/
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Birmingham, Alabama, United States
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