LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A well-known Louisville nonprofit committed $3 million to a large, multi-phase homeless services campus that will go in the Smoketown neighborhood.
The Humana Foundation's donation on Wednesday pushes the total amount of money raised or directed to the Community Care Campus to $28.7 million.
Volunteers of America (VOA) Mid-States, the project's lead, is also planning to get a $19 million affordable housing tax credit, which brings the total amount for the project to $47.75 million.
"Louisville is experiencing a surge of homelessness, and we believe the Community Care Campus will be transformational for our city," Tiffany Benjamin said, CEO of The Humana Foundation.
The Community Care Campus will take up a half city block on the border of the Smoketown and Old Louisville neighborhoods, between East Breckenridge, South Floyd and South Brook Streets.
The campus has plans for a 29-room emergency family shelter, 80 units of permanent affordable housing, transitional housing for youth age 18-24, and medical respite care for houseless people leaving the hospital.
The city, Volunteers of America and Miranda Construction started "demolition and abatement" last week on the former Vu Hotel, which will become the emergency family shelter. That building is supposed to open in summer 2025. In the meantime, a temporary family shelter in the "guesthouse" building on the campus is supposed to open by the end of 2024.
"I'm confident that this gift, this leading gift from the Humana Foundation, is going to be a catalyst for a lot more philanthropic investment in this project as we move forward," Mayor Craig Greenberg said.
The date for the entire campus to be completed is sometime in 2027.
Jennifer Hancock, CEO of VOA Mid-States, said they still need $5-10 million more to do everything in their plans.
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