Samaritan Inn Relocation and Expansion

Samaritan Inn Relocation and Expansion

Three years ago we had an opportunity to build a second homeless shelter for Collin County. I was disappointed we missed it. It was to have been here in Plano where about a third of the county's homeless originate and the need was serious. Samaritan Inn in McKinney, the only existing shelter in the county that can accommodate single adults and families, was turning away about fifty people every week.

They still do. Last week there were 162 people living at the inn, 62 of them children. They took in four new residents. One person "graduated," completed the inn's program, found a job with a living wage, and is now living independently. One person either left voluntarily or was asked to leave for violating inn rules. For thirty eight, eighteen singles and five families with seven adults and thirteen children, there was  literally no room at the inn.  They were turned away to sleep in their cars, if lucky enough to have a car. In 2012 the inn turned away 3754 people, people who had been screened, were qualified, and would have been welcome had there been room.

Samaritan Inn isn't for everyone. They try to focus on people who will be there temporarily, people who with the right help can get back on their feet, find gainful employment, and become productive, independent citizens again. Some are single mothers, some are two parent households where two incomes can't make ends meet, some are people who once enjoyed six figure incomes. None of them fit the image many of us associate with chronic vagrancy.

The rules are strict; required attendance at counseling, training, work if there is work to be had, diligent job searches when there is no work, and a curfew.  The objective is always to get residents to the point where they no longer need a homeless shelter.

Now Samaritan Inn is planning to relocate and expand. The existing facility was built in the sixties as a nursing home. For several years it served as a jail. It is in constant need of repair. Singles and families are housed together, not a satisfactory arrangement, and besides too few beds, they really don't have what they need for classrooms, computer workrooms, and other common areas to make themselves as functional as they would like to be.

So they have acquired a fifteen acre tract just south of their current location where they will build a modern campus. It will include buildings for common areas, administrative offices, recreation, and new, larger and separate housing facilities for families and singles. The city has embraced them, they have been responsible citizens long enough there isn't a lot of local opposition. The current facility will be sold and probably torn down.

All they need now is money, a lot of money, upwards of $7 million I'm told. Samaritan Inn has always relied for funding primarily on private donations from faith communities, foundation grants, and individuals. Less than 5% of their financing comes from government and they like it that way. They will apply for government grants where they are available but they expect to get most of what they need from traditional sources. I think they will get it. There was a lot of public support for the effort in Plano three years ago, and real disappointment that it was not successful.

This expansion won't address all of the homeless needs in Collin County. There are just too many; teenagers couch surfing with friends, addicts, mentally ill, the list goes on and on. It won't even solve the problem it does address. They aren't going to house the thousands of people they turn away every year. But this move is an unqualified good thing.