FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A new multi-million-dollar homeless shelter is coming to Fond du Lac.
The St. Katharine Drexel Shelter broke ground Wednesday morning. It will be located in front of Fond du Lac’s St. Vincent de Paul at 330 N. Peters Ave.
The project is a collaboration between St. Vincent de Paul and Solutions Center Inc. to build a homeless shelter that’s the first of its kind in Fond du Lac.
“Fond du Lac does not have a 24/7 shelter right now that serves all of our homeless population,” Solutions Center director of homeless services Amy Loof said.
The $5.5 million shelter won’t just be for women, and it won’t be exclusively for families, either.
“What sets it apart is it’s really two shelters in one shelter – for singles and for families,” said Bob Hartzheim, St. Vincent de Paul board president.
The space will create more than 20,000 square feet to serve the homeless population of Fond du Lac County.
“It’s hard when you take phone calls, and you can’t help somebody; you have no place to put them,” Hartzheim said. “On Christmas Eve, you have families sleeping in their cars; it is painful, so this just lets us do a whole lot more.”
When completed, the building will be able to privately house 15 families in the Family Shelter. In what will be called the Singles Shelter, there will be enough space for 12 women and 24 men.
“Homelessness affects everybody, it’s not just an individual group of people that are homeless,” said Loof. “It’s men, women, families, children, and I think it’s our responsibility, as a community, to make sure that we’re serving them all.”
St. Katharine Drexel Shelter will provide comfortable, home-like spaces, featuring kitchens and dining rooms. It will also include an area dedicated to providing community resources to support permanent housing and self-sufficiency.
“Between 60-80% of the people move on to their own home right away, so that to me is a really good goal,” Hartzheim said.
The one-story year-round shelter is slated to be completed by the end of this year. An opening day has not been announced.
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