CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - A Cedar Rapids organization is transforming more than two dozen shelter beds into transitional housing in the hopes of helping people make permanent changes in their lives.
Mission of Hope decided recently to remove 28 shelter beds at two buildings and to reopen the shelters as transitional housing in the spring.
Executive Director Kim Reem told The Gazette that the group made the decision after coming to the conclusion it was “enabling people to continue to live in crisis.” She noted that the group was feeding lunch to some of the same people it served when it opened 17 years ago.
The change will mean the removal of 16 men’s and 12 women’s emergency beds.
“We see a lot of people in emergency shelter who loop from shelter to shelter and have no intention of getting a job. We want more for them,” Reem said. “The community is going to be missing the 28 shelter beds, and I know that, but for every person we can get out of this cycle - self-sustaining and on their own - in time, it will have been well worth it.”
To qualify for transitional housing, people will need to have a job and agree to work with a counselor to set a budget.
Mission of Hope also recently started classes to teach people how to manage even a small amount of money and how to get a job and learn professional skills.
“It’s like give them a fish or give them a fishing pole,” said Steve Callison, who volunteers to teach a faith and finance class. “You’re giving them a means, a way to meet their financial goals on their own. When you consistently support people in financial crisis, you don’t really teach them how to change their lifestyle.”
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