As Rutherford County continues to grow, so does the issue of homelessness. On Monday, one organization broke ground on a facility with a goal to help those struggling get off the streets permanently.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) — As Rutherford County continues to grow, so does the issue of homelessness. On Monday, one organization broke ground on a facility with a goal to help those struggling get off the streets permanently.
According to The Journey Home, Rutherford County saw between 4- and 5,000 individuals facing homelessness last year. That number includes over 2,000 students. The organization broke ground on a $6.2 million facility that will focus on keeping those families together.
“Kids who have difficult childhoods have difficult adulthoods,” chairman of The Journey Home capital campaign, Russ Galloway, told News 2. “If we can make them in a better place as a child to have a safe, secure home, we have a much better chance for healthy, productive adults.”
The future 20,000 square building will have 10 units for families with children. The facility will also open up daytime services to others, including medical and mental health care, employment services and housing resources.
“When people want change, then they have to be supported with the resources to get to that point,” The Journey Home’s executive director, Scott Foster, said. “Many times, once you help people to a certain point, they can take the ball and run with it.”
The overall goal is to find long-term solutions and help those struggling to get off the streets permanently.
“Locally, we still have a lot of people that just simply care about their neighbor,” Foster added. “They want to do something to serve each other so that we all might be a community together.”
The Journey Home hopes to open the new facility by Labor Day 2025.