Midlands Housing Alliance

Knight Foundation $5 Million Challenge Grant to Provide Impetus for Comprehensive Service Center and Assistance Program
Midlands business leaders, service providers and faith leaders announced that a new 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, Midlands Housing Alliance (MHA), has been formed to address the issue of homelessness in the Midlands.  The coalition, through MHA, seeks to help people permanently rehabilitate and transition their lives by moving off the streets and into housing, thereby enhancing the quality of life for everyone and reducing the costs and strain on the community.  To jump-start this significant endeavor, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has provided a $5 million challenge grant to fund the development of a comprehensive services program and center to coordinate services.
With the assistance of this transformational grant, MHA has negotiated an agreement to redevelop and repurpose the Salvation Army facility at Main and Elmwood streets into a comprehensive center to provide a wide range of services for the homeless.  The plan for the new site includes space for providers to offer assistance for a variety of human needs.  Leaders of the effort estimate that acquiring, renovating, constructing and equipping the facility will require a financial investment of approximately $15 million.  Along with the commitment from the Knight Foundation, organizers will seek approximately $5 million from private organizations and the business community and an additional $5 million from our area local government.
"This effort is the result of unprecedented unity among a broad range of the business, provider and faith communities.  For more than a year-and-a-half, leaders have met to develop a plan to effectively implement a great strategy first outlined several years ago.  This effort will work.  It will reduce the number of homeless and associated issues in the Midlands," said Cathy Novinger, MHA chair.
Far more than a shelter, the new center will not only provide services to those who have no home, but also address the underlying causes of their situation and facilitate change.  The center will bring together providers to offer health screenings, mental health counseling, and treatment for substance abuse, employment training and other support services. 
Bobby Lyles, principal for Stevens & Wilkinson of South Carolina, Inc., the architecture firm designing the site, explained that in addition to the purpose of the facility, it will also enhance the area's appearance.  "The service center and facility is attractive in design; with an inward facing courtyard and space for providers and other coordinating services. This will serve as an attractive gateway to the city of Columbia—it will combine functionality with a wonderful aesthetic."  (View Services Center Site Plans)
"This broad-based coalition seeks to reduce homelessness and improve the quality of life downtown and in surrounding neighborhoods," said Mac Bennett, president and chief executive officer for United Way of the Midlands.  "We want to empower these people to exit homelessness, increase their income and skills and gain housing; the ability to achieve these goals will greatly increase with persistence and support from the business, faith and provider communities and this opportunity granted from the Knight Foundation provides a significant point from which to begin."
The Knight Foundation has made almost $20 million in grants in Columbia since 1987, a portion of which was designated for the commercial-grade kitchen at the Salvation Army's current facility, which will remain in the new plan for the site.
Susan Patterson, Knight Foundation's program director in Columbia, said, "Knight Foundation shares and supports this collective community vision. It is, we believe, a bold step toward ending homelessness in Columbia, and can lead to the kind of transformational community change that Knight Foundation is committed to."
"For more than 100 years, one of the core missions of the Columbia Salvation Army has been serving the needs of the homeless. That has not changed and will not change. We are very excited today because we believe that the proposed sale of 2025 Main St. to the Midlands Housing Alliance will strengthen our presence in Columbia by allowing us to reallocate our limited time and financial resources from owning and operating a shelter to being one of several service providers at the new shelter doing what we do best – or "Doing the Most Good" – transforming lives by saving souls," said Salvation Army Columbia Advisory Board Chairman Michael Beal.
Reiterating support for the initiative, Associate Pastor of Eastminster Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Amos DiSasa said, "This journey and call to our community is a grand, yet workable challenge and many have worked tirelessly to achieve this vision.  I encourage all in the Midlands to reach deep within their hearts and souls and claim as an affirmation of faith to join in these efforts—we have the power to make this comprehensive plan a sustainable reality."