On Wednesday morning a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Plymouth Permanent Supportive Housing Project, to be known as Saint Katherina Kasper Serenity Place.
Permanent Supportive Housing is housing that combines permanent, affordable housing with services that help people live more stable, productive lives. It is not a shelter. There is no set time limit on length of stay. Flexible human services designated to meet the special needs of an individual or family are combined with a stable and affordable place to live.
The concept of supportive housing serves persons and families with very low or extremely low incomes. Often these are individuals or families who are experiencing homelessness and who would have difficulty maintaining permanent housing without ongoing supportive services.
Supportive housing can offer services often on site that generally include therapy and counseling, case management, medical evaluation and treatment, education and life-skills and job training.
Serenity Place will provide 18 dwelling units consisting of 4 – one bedroom units, 10 – two bedroom units and 4 – three bedroom units along with management offices, conference and therapy spaces, a community room, activity room, fenced playground, computer/reading room, community pantry and similar supportive spaces are also included. Additionally, the building is designed around an interior atrium with two secure exterior entries. All entrances and common areas are CCTV monitored.
The construction budget is $2.9 million and R Yoder Construction of Nappanee is the general contractor with a bid of $2,797,000.
The project has grant funding in the amount of $1 million from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority Home Funds (IHCDA) and $1,187,000 from the IHCDA trust Fund. In addition, the project was awarded $500,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis. The City of Plymouth has allocated $300,000 for the project. The balance of the funding will come from a variety of local sources, including $115,000 from the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ Ministry and $50,000 from the Marshall County Community Foundation. Construction is scheduled to begin yet this year. The project will take about 10 months to complete.
Serenity Place is named after Serenity Wilson, the 2 year old little girl that was beaten by her mother’s boyfriend in a Plymouth motel and died from her injuries on September 19, 2015.
