Demolition has begun on an abandoned warehouse near the Augusta Fairgrounds.
The Salvation Army of Augusta wants to build a new Center of Hope on the tract that city records say is 3.32 acres.
Major Jonathan Raymer, Area Commander for The Salvation Army, told ABD the site was chosen for a few reasons. First, some of their partner agencies are in that general area.
“It’s also right near the Sheriff’s Office, right out there, which is good. We have to get shelter clearance cards in order for people to stay in the shelter, and when it’s only a block away, that makes things easier for us to get those shelter clearance cards,” he explained. “It’s also right near a bus route there. It’s also a big enough spot to actually put what we’re trying to put there.”
The current Center of Hope on Greene Street has been used for about 50 years, but it wasn’t built to be a shelter. Raymer said it was modified to fit the need to serve the homeless community.
“Obviously, it’s not ideal, and so looking at the new place and trying, still working through the concepts. We’re still trying to find the funding for it. This is just early steps,” he said. “So, trying to make it more conducive, to help those in need, trying to make it even more secure in that the populations of people, women, children, and men, don’t intersect with one another, making that a little more secure in that way.”
Bethany Trapp, Program Coordinator for the Marion Barnes Assessment & Referral Center for the Homeless and former member of the Homeless Task Force Street Outreach Committee, said a larger Center of Hope is needed. While there are three shelters for men, the Salvation Army is the only one that can accept women, women with children, and families.
“The other part of that is, when you get them in shelter, they are closer to the resources and case management and food, so they can eat,” she explained. “We can connect them with mental health. We can connect them with employment, all of those other little things that the rest of us kind of take for granted. When you get them closer to resources, they can stop survival mode for a minute and start actually taking the steps to get self-sufficient and stable, and that’s a huge part of homelessness.”
While the Hale Street location wouldn’t have been her first choice, Trapp sees the advantages of the site, including its proximity to the Sheriff’s Office and the bus line.
“I do think it’s a tad bit far from some of the other resources, but it’s no farther from the soup kitchen and from other resources that they would need,” she said. “I think it’s going to take some adjustment for all of us, just in connection to where it is and how far away it is from certain things, but other things it’s going to I think it’s going to be a huge difference bringing them closer to the other resources.”
Raymer said the building is still in the planning stages, but he envisions a two-story building and a plan that allows for future growth. He said a decision has not been made on what will happen with the current Center of Hope.
