COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) -
After plenty of controversy and millions in fundraising for construction, the Transitions Center for Columbia's homeless is paying off.
The center has been open for business for a full year now and it has produced positive results, but Transitions also faces funding challenges going forward.
Even before it was built, critics worried that Columbia's new Transitions center would have a negative impact on downtown Columbia and the surrounding community. Instead, there are signs that this center for the homeless is not only helping them but not hurting neighborhoods.
"It has not been quite the problem that we thought it would be and that's been encouraging," said the Cottontown Neighborhood Association's Ellen Cooper.
Last week, members of the Midlands Housing Alliance and others who backed Transitions celebrated its first full year of operations.
The center is designed to help the homeless get off the street temporarily, but also put them on track to control the issues that led to homelessness. The ultimate goal: jobs, homes of their own, stability, and productivity.
"We've had over 2,000 people engaged in our day center which is the mechanism to get them off the street, start to get them to turn their lives around. And that's been a great success," said director Craig Currey. "Those are folks who would otherwise have been walking around the district, in the business area of Columbia."
Currey says in its first year, Transitions has moved 173 people into their own homes. Funding remains a concern with significant cuts from at least two local governments.
Currey says Transitions is now looking for support from private sources, including the business community and area churches.
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