Jefferson City Room at the Inn may move to a new location

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

This coming winter may be the last time the Jefferson City Room at the Inn homeless shelter operates at the First Baptist Church on Capitol Avenue.

JCRATI is an emergency, overnight homeless shelter that operates during the winter months. But Housing the Community Jefferson City, JCRATI's parent organization, could soon be housing the city's homeless at a new headquarters.

After more than two years of searching for a larger location, the organization announced at a news conference Tuesday morning that it has signed an option to buy property at 107 Adams St. and filed a zoning application for the building.

Scott Johnston, president of the board of directors for Housing the Community Jefferson City, said the 40-year-old building is not vacant, but it is not fully used. The owner mainly uses it as a storage and office space.

"The zoning application is asking the city for approval to renovate the building into both a resource center for the community and to move Room at the Inn into the building," Johnston said. "We're hoping that this is really going to be an impact on the community. Our whole purpose is to improve Jefferson City as a place to live and do business."

Contingent on the city council approving the application late summer, Johnston said the new location would open its doors in December 2027.

"The building on Adams Street is intended to meet a need that we've been talking about for years, and that is homeless folks hanging out in the downtown area," Johnston said.

The tentative location is a block from the current JCRATI location, and Johnston said it would allow for more guests to be welcomed in — a priority of the Jefferson City Task Force on Homelessness.

"The mayor's task force recently concluded that that was the No. 1 recommendation. The No. 1 priority is to get a coordinated, centralized access point for hooking folks up with services and to take care of their daily basic needs," Johnston said.

Besides having 30 available beds compared to JCRATI's current 20, the resource center will have showers, bathrooms, recreational space, snacks and drinks.

The group hopes the expansion will do more than offer shelter from rough weather conditions.

"Most importantly, the resource center will provide an opportunity for folks to get hooked up with the services that they need in order to become more independent," Johnston said.

The vision is to have the second floor be an overnight shelter, and the first be filled with recreational and office spaces that local resources operate out of. JCRATI hopes that will encourage people to stay after the overnight hour to get any help they may need.

"We don't have to turn them away at 7 a.m.," volunteer Carolyn Saucier said. "They can transition to a different space downstairs and maybe work with some people. So the possibilities of this new place are so immense."

Johnston said the main focus of the resource center will be to find people employment and housing. He said the goal is not to create new resources, but to work with existing ones in the community and bring them to those at the center.

The new building would also better house a growing number of volunteers. Johnston said there are more than 200 volunteers with JCRATI.

The hope is that the Jefferson City community will rally behind the plan to move and expand. Johnston said he believes people will, as it's been a growing, community-driven mission for many years.

"About six years ago, we just didn't want people to freeze to death," Johnston said. "So we worked with Catholic Charities to open Room at the Inn, and it had 15 beds at that time. And we were full almost all the time."

Carolyn Saucier said conversations began long before JCRATI opened five years ago.

"I've been involved in the homelessness project since we started in the conversations over at Catholic Charities about 10 years ago. We simply met and we called ourselves a task force. And how can we address the issues of homelessness in our community?" Saucier said.

About three years ago, Johnston said, First Baptist Church at 301 E Capitol Ave. opened its doors to house JCRATI.

But after a few years, expansion is again needed.

"In December, it was not quite full, but then we were turning away people in January and February. So we're very hopeful that the expanded beds for Room at the Inn has a real impact on the unhoused people and Jeff City," Johnston said.

But there's more than just city council approval standing between the nonprofit's dream on Adams Street becoming a reality.

"If the zoning is approved, the real work begins for us. If the zoning approves, we'll need to begin fundraising, renovating that building will take a significant investment and time to convert it into a community resource center and to make it suitable for Room at the Inn," Johnston said.