BETHANY HOUSE

Bethany House Services breaks ground for new shelter and comprehensive services center

After a successful campaign to raise $18.5 million, Bethany House Services celebrated the start of construction on its new shelter and comprehensive services center, with a groundbreaking on Sept. 14. Bethany House Services is Cincinnati’s largest provider of emergency shelter and housing programs for families experiencing homelessness. Currently, services are scattered among seven locations. The new facility at 4769 Reading Road will consolidate services into one location. The new center is expected to open in the fall of 2022.

“Our vision to consolidate into one location began in 2015, and thanks to more than 200 generous donors, it became a reality today,” says Susan Schiller, CEO of Bethany House. Donors included $11 million in private donations, $4.65 million in public funding and $2.8 million in New Markets Tax Credit financing. Donors of $1 million or more were Day 1 Families Fund, The Farmer Family Foundation, The Heidt Family Foundation, Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation and an anonymous donor as well as the City of Cincinnati, which donated $4 million.

The project benefited from New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) financing through support from the Cincinnati Development Fund, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and PNC Tax Credit Solutions, a PNC Real Estate business, which also served as the investor for the NMTC transaction. The new facility is designed for children & families and includes:

• Private family bedrooms

• On-site medical and mental health care for children & adults

• Employment services

• Counseling and educational programs

• Classrooms for life skills and job readiness programs

• Interactive, age-based indoor enrichment areas and outdoor children’s play spaces

• Access to a full range of support services for every family served.

Architect on the project is SHP, and the construction companies are TriVersity and Jostin. “We are proud of the fact that 53 percent of the project work is being done by minority providers,” says Carolyn Washburn, Chair of Bethany House Board of Directors.

“We’re not finished fundraising,” says H. Kim Baird, board member and co-chair of the campaign committee. “To keep the cost of the building down, we had to cut some important items. We are working to raise another $1.2 million to cover the cost of those additional features.”

You can watch a broadcast of the groundbreaking event on the Bethany House Services Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BethanyHouseServices.