After more than two decades serving Windham County’s unhoused residents, the former Windham Region No Freeze Project is finding new ways to help the community.
Now called Project HOPE of Eastern Connecticut, the organization recently reopened as a year-round shelter.
The new facility on Valley Street in Willimantic, includes 10 semi-private bedrooms, with two beds in each, according to Project HOPE Executive Director Avery Lenhart.
“Our double occupancy rooms offer privacy and dignity in a peaceful place, making cold showers and sleeping next to strangers a thing of the past,” Lenhart said.
Every room has a personal bathroom and closets with pincodes for safe storage, Lenhart said.
“We have saved lives, helped people return to housing, and given them hope for a better future,” Lenhart said. “Today, we have a moment to shine. After 22 years of making our current situation work, we now have this truly incredible building to call our home. This space represents the greater vision that goes beyond a safe and warm place to sleep.”
Once the shelter fully opens, in the coming days, Lenhart and her team will begin calling unhoused residents from the shelter bed waitlist and from nearby organizations to move in.
Isolation rooms will be available for sick clients along with some on-site health services from local providers. The facility will also encourage and help residents meet their goals to secure regular housing.
Despite the shift to year-round, long-term housing, the shelter will still also have space for unhoused residents seeking reprieve from the cold.
“In the common areas, we have flexible space so that we can have cots, drop-in emergency shelter during the cold winter months, so anybody who finds themselves outside can just come in and be warm, find a place to sleep,” Lenhart said.
Drop-in guests will also be able to shower and wash their clothes, Lenhart said.
The building was purchased and donated to Project HOPE in 2022. Construction took about 18 months to complete, Lenhart said. It included about $6 million in state funding.
Project HOPE was one of Connecticut Department of Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno’s first tests in her mission to change the way Connecticut addresses homelessness.
“I always thought, why shelters would allow only people to stay at night and then they have to leave?” Mosquera-Bruno said. “Because that's not a way that you're going to be able to be successful, because you still have some needs, and those needs are not met on the street.”
