A New ‘Home’ For The Homeless
A new homeless facility is in works helping more people stay off the streets and with a roof of their head. Over the weekend, a property owner blamed a fire on the homeless. The fire erupted Sunday morning just before 9 a.m. at an abandoned restaurant near Fantasy Springs Casino.
The owner of the building, Howard Park, said, “I had a lot of homeless people break in; they would sleep there. They cut some pipes and gave me headaches.”
Firefighters aren’t releasing an official cause yet.
The Coachella Valley Rescue Mission said it is seeing more and more people needing its help.
“With the economy the way it is, the job loss and the reduction in hours, we’re seeing more and more people”, said Darla Burkett with the CVRM. “There is a waiting list for all our programs and it keeps growing, and it’s going nowhere.” She admits, “When they have no shelter and no where to go, you’re going to hover wherever you can.”
The CVRM believes it has the solution, however. Right now it is at the end of its capital campaign. The plan is to build a 44,000-square-foot building that will have 150 beds, studios for the women and children and room for classrooms, playgrounds and a large cafeteria.
Employees hope to break ground on the new facility in December. And the CVRM needs the last $2 million dollars to do so.
For more information on the homeless center go to www.cvrm.org.
