SOUTH SALT LAKE — Up to 85 families will soon be able to take shelter in a first-of-its-kind facility converted from a motel to temporarily house families facing homelessness.
In contrast to most congregate homeless shelters in Utah, South Salt Lake’s Family Interim Non-Congregate House, or FINCH, will provide families with private space to live while they get back on their feet.
“Clearly, any shelter and services is better than no shelter, and that’s the reason we have big dorm-style congregate shelters,” said Laurie Hopkins, executive director of Shelter the Homeless, a nonprofit that owns and manages the FINCH property.
“What happens, though, is some families are struggling,” Hopkins continued. “They may have a smaller child, a baby; they may have school-age kids. And if they have their own private space, it really makes it so that they are able to have a feeling of stability much more quickly.”
“It really, I think, will feel to these families like they’re able to replicate what they want, and what they’re aspiring to, which is their own home,” she added.
Hopkins credits city, county and state leaders, as well as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for getting the project off the ground. The former Motel 6 at 315 West and 3300 South has been converted to feature 85 units with beds, a bathroom, a mini microwave and a refrigerator. Several common areas include a dining room, playroom, laundry room and outdoor space for pets.
Caseworkers will also be available on site to help connect families with school, employment and health care opportunities. FINCH will be operated by The Road Home, which operates several other emergency resource centers in the Salt Lake area.
While we don’t want anybody unsheltered or living in a place unfit for human habitation, we especially don’t want children living in that situation. Having a noncongregate facility like this — this is real. This is big time.
–Wayne Niederhauser, state homelessness coordinator
Wayne Niederhauser, the state homeless coordinator, said he expected things to move faster when he took the post but realizes that alleviating homelessness is “very complicated and challenging.” He said FINCH represents a significant step toward keeping children and families off the street in Salt Lake County.
“While we don’t want anybody unsheltered or living in a place unfit for human habitation, we especially don’t want children living in that situation,” he said. “Having a noncongregate facility like this — this is real. This is big time.”
Finding cities willing to host homeless resource centers has long been an obstacle for state leaders and advocates, and several people credited South Salt Lake and Mayor Cherie Wood for their willingness to step up.
“I think we were intrigued specifically about this new model, the noncongregate for families,” Wood told KSL.com. “We’ve built a citywide system of after-school programs and … a support system around cradle-to-career work in our community, so we have a lot of partners that are in our community every day helping already. … I think because we have that established, we’re fairly confident that it will not impact this neighborhood.”
FINCH will start accepting families in phases in early May, Hopkins said, with several families expected to move in each day until it reaches capacity. Between 60 and 80 families have already been on a waiting list, so she says she expects the shelter to have a significant impact on struggling families in Salt Lake County.
While other facilities, such as Lantern House in Ogden, provide similar family shelter space, Hopkins said she hopes to see more cities adopt a similar model to help local families.
“This can be replicated,” she said. “There needs to be a lot of community members stepping forward to help with the funding, refurbishment, to get it to a place where these families can move in and feel comfortable. But it is absolutely doable and should be done to a higher level than we currently are in our state. I really encourage all of the cities to really look at what the need is in their own community, come together and get some more of these built.”
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