New apartments house homeless, disabled locals

Crawford Apartments recently welcomed 25 residents experiencing disabilities and previous ongoing homelessness into its doors.

Shalom Community Center Inc. organized a volunteer event in August to help provide the new tenants with a place to live. Shalom Community Center aims to be a safe, daytime resource center for people experiencing homelessness and poverty in south central Indiana, according to the organization’s website.

Collaborating with LifeDesigns Inc. and the South Central Housing Network, 29 volunteers gathered at Crawford Apartments Aug. 30 to help the individuals move in. Those who met the criteria for housing filed an application and were selected by Shalom Community Center’s selection committee.

LifeDesigns Community Development Officer Leslie Abshier said LifeDesigns is a non-profit organization that works with people who have disabilities, which includes helping with housing and other necessities. All of the people who moved into the apartments have some sort of disability and have been homeless for a significant amount of time.

Abshier said during prior months, local churches made care packages for the apartments, including cleaning supplies and appliances, because a majority of those moving in didn’t own any.

“We started the move in process on Sept. 7,” Abshier said. “People are moving in slow phases, but so far it’s been going smoothly.”

Although the project is a collaborative effort, Abshier said the South Central Housing Network, the state’s Region 10 Regional Planning Council, originally came up with the idea.

After getting sponsored by real estate finance company Great Lakes Capital Fund and the project’s consultant Milestone Ventures Inc. the idea was then presented to Shalom Community Center, which ultimately put the plan to work in 2012.

Abshier said Shalom Community Center approached LifeDesigns to help build the complex because of the organization’s experience in building houses.

After receiving $4 million from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, LifeDesigns completed the apartment complex a few months ago. Abshier said the complex features 25 one-bedroom apartments that provide a safe and protected atmosphere for those living there.

“Shalom Community Center came to us to help build the housing unit,” Abshier said. “Because the people they serve are homeless with disabilities, it fit with exactly what we do.”

— Brett Frieman