Homelessness continues to rise across Ohio, including in rural counties. In Wayne County, officials are hoping to address the need by opening a new transitional housing shelter this fall.
“What we’d really like to do is make this as much like a home as possible,” said Charles Brain, board president of Homeward Bound of Wooster and Wayne County.
The center will be located at 981 Grosjean Road in Wooster, a former nightclub, Brain said. A local construction company is transforming the building from a restaurant and bar space to instead house a living room area, kitchen, office spaces and dorms with bunk beds, Brain said.
While the center will be open year-round from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., it will also operate as an emergency overnight shelter from November through April, he said.
“One of the problems that the homeless have is that they don’t sleep. They always have to keep an eye open to watch their things … so as a result they don’t sleep, and we offer the opportunity to get a good night’s sleep. And that’s pretty important,” Brain said.
The center will be able to accommodate up to 32 men and 12 women overnight in the colder months, he added.
In addition to providing showers, laundry and meals during the day, the facility will also have representatives from social service organizations on-hand to connect individuals with services like counseling, addiction support, employment and finding permanent housing, he added.
“We will provide the opportunity for these people to get together and hopefully get on the road to independent living. That’s our goal,” Brain said.
The facility will also have medical staff from the Viola Startzman Clinic, a health center that provides affordable care in the area, he added.
The plan is to open the facility Nov. 1, he said.
Homeward Bound will run the shelter, with Cynthia Bonidie serving as the executive director. It's currently looking to hire about 20 staff members and dozens more volunteers, Brain added.
The most recent point-in-time count showed more than 100 people are experiencing homelessness in Wayne County, Brain said.
Across the state, advocacy agencies are increasingly concerned about the rise of homelessness in smaller cities and rural areas.
A 2022 report from the Coalition on Housing and Homelessness in Ohio found that emergency shelters are “small or absent” in rural areas.
While there are several shelters in Wayne County, they are targeted to families, or women who have experienced domestic violence, Brain added. Over the past few years, there’s been a growing need to assist individuals who are on their own.
“There was a need for additional beds, and really for a facility with a sole focus on homeless,” Brain said.
A coalition called the Housing and Homelessness Task Force of Wayne County has been working to find a permanent emergency shelter for several years, Brain added.
Wooster’s planning commission approved the plan to remodel the building for a transitional housing facility in May. Weaver Commercial Construction is handling the renovations.
