Inter-Faith Council halfway to new men’s shelter

After Hunter Mills became homeless, the Inter-Faith Council’s Community House provided him with a route to avoid the streets.

But in his time there, he found the shelter was about much more than a hot meal and a bed.

“Those who are in there temporarily ­— and they basically put a boot to you to get a job and get the heck out — it actually helps them,” he said.

“Actually a lot of people have left when I’ve been here … they got jobs and like a week later to a month later, they were out.”

And as the IFC passes a fundraising milestone this month, homeless men served by the shelter will soon have a new facility to help them get back on their feet.

The nonprofit has raised more than 50 percent of the $4.7 million it needs to fund the new homeless shelter.

IFC Associate Director John Dorward said the project’s contractors, Triangle Grading and Paving, will begin preliminary work at the 1315 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. site in early July.

The new facility will replace the shelter’s current 100 W. Rosemary St. location.

“People will see some trees coming down and some dirt being moved around at the site, which we’re very excited about,” Dorward said.

On Monday, Dorward met for a pre-construction meeting with contractors and the project’s architect, Josh Gurlitz of Chapel Hill’s GGA Architects.

Gurlitz said they would be installing some basic foundational systems at the site.

“There will be trees removed, grading will occur, we’ll be including some retaining walls and we’ll be doing storm water management structures, which are pipes and catch-water systems,” Gurlitz said.

Dorward said while some details need to be finalized, they hope to begin construction on the building itself by next spring or summer.

The site for the new shelter, leased from UNC, includes 1.66 acres. The planned two-story structure will hold 52 beds and expanded facilities, including an exercise room, work spaces, a medical facility and dental clinic.

The IFC’s Community Kitchen, which provides free, daily meals, will remain at the shelter’s current location until a planned move to Carrboro is approved.

Dorward said the larger shelter space will allow the IFC to focus more effectively on recovery for men in the shelter’s programs.

“The whole point of the program is at the end of the program, you will be employed and ready to be independent again,” he said. “The current building is not set up where we could do that.”

At the shelter, new program participants will stay in dormitory-style rooms of 12 beds each. As they advance through the program, completing work in job skills training or finishing their education, they’ll move to more private bedrooms, sometimes with only one roommate.

Mills said he thinks the move will benefit those who use the shelter’s services.

“It’s a bigger space so they have a bigger shelter, and it’s going to have a lot more rooms, a lot more things that keep them occupied,” he said.

While facilities at the new shelter will go far in helping men prepare for life after homelessness, Dorward said the shelter’s location will be a critical element of its effectiveness.

“I think being in more of a little quieter setting — more of a neighborhood —will be more of what they’ll be experiencing when they get out on their own,” he said.

“They’ll be regular guys, just like the rest of us.”

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