$10 Million Homeless Shelter to Break Ground This Spring in Kalamazoo

While Kalamazoo sees its homeless population growing, plans have been made to build a new emergency homeless facility for women and children. Groundbreaking will be this spring. Previously in it's own building, the women and children's shelter had to be vacated after a fire in 2018 left the facility unlivable. As a result, women and children have been moved to the second floor of the all male building, and, as you can imagine, space is tight.

Kalamazoo Gospel Ministries, formerly the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission, serves 80% of the homeless population in Kalamazoo, and they are looking forward to bringing more breathing room to the many people they help. According to an article from MLive, the shelter houses 325 people each night, on average. This $10 million project, mainly funded by private donations, is a 4,700-square-foot, three-story building that includes a good Samaritan room on the first floor, with cots for single women needing emergency shelter. The top two floors will be allocated to women and children with apartment-style units to create more “intimate, safe and comfortable living quarters.”

Plans to finish and open this build are set for spring of 2021.