Can anyone give me some advise on opening up a mission center for the homeless?

Question

Do I have to go and get a permit and tax Id number to open it?How about funding?I am doing this because we have none here in this county,and it will help families and singles.

Answer 1

I've been homeless.  Many missions make the mistake of feeding and showering the homeless in the middle of the day, which really interferes with them finding work or a home.  I was homeless in Montreal, a city of 3.5 million, so if I got fed and showered at a mission around noon, it was too late to just have the afternoon to go across Montreal to apply for a job.  Open very early, and employers may come looking to pick up day workers at 7:00 A.M. like they do at a temporary agency like Labor Ready (I got a permanent construction job from being a day laborer), or open in the evening after the working day is over.

The mission I went to, "Le Toit rouge" in Montreal gave out mostly overdue or damaged food donations, but there was nothing wrong with giving it to the homeless.  I worked in a hospital kitchen, a sports stadium, and a bakery where my job was to throw a lot of unsold but still good food in the garbage.  Ask, and ye shall receive.

In order to help singles and families together, you will need good security to stop fighting or swearing in front of children.  You will likely have to ban all intoxicated people.  In Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, you can put a sticker on the front door saying the police are your agent, meaning the police on their own can ban anyone from your building for misbehaving.

I know one of the 1st problems you will have are the NIMBYs.  Rich NIMBYs don't even want apartments, basement suites, or condos (how ironic when they complain about homeless people so much?) by their expensive homes, so expect them to act like a bunch of Scrooges towards the homeless when they try to stop you from getting the county's okay.  I hate that stuff.

Answer 2

Hello China Doll

That is a great thing to want to do.  The answers depend a lot on what kind of a shelter you want to offer.  There are dorm shelters where people stay only at night in cold weather only, residential shelters that offer a place to be in daytime as well as at night, emergency shelters like cots or pallates set up in a church or school basement,  shelter + car e programs that help people work on underlying issues and needs, transitional shelters that provide a family or a few singles with an apartment of efficiency where they can be anywhere from 30 days to 2 yrs while they work on overcoming tha things that led to their being himeless, and shelter programs that provide donated motel rooms in an emergency.   Stays can be for one night to a few years. Shelters except transitional shelters are normally supervised by 1 or more ppl each night tho there are some self governed shelters.

At some point you will probably want to set up a nonprofit coprporation but to start with you can look for a nonprofit that already has its tax number to be your fiscal agent,providing tax receipts and and overseeing to be sure money is used properly.   What you need for permits depends on the type shelter you do,.   If for ex you shelter people in donated motel rooms the zoning and permitting is already in place. the same is true with a small transitional shelter that has a few roommates or one family in an apartment or trailer for 30 days or longer. Most other shelters will require a permit tho you may find some exceptions if yours is a rural county and if the property owner is involved with the program.   Many people fear the homeless and think of them as violent addicts.  It is certainly true that some addicts are homeless and some homeless ppl are violent but few realize that the average homeless person inthe US is a child between 6 and 8.  Mathmatically that means that half the homeless ppl in your area are probably children under 8.  

Financially you wll need community support whether from churches, community groups, businesses, individuals, funding events, money earning programs, etc.   Most grants require that the sheltering organization have at least 2 yrs experience, their own 501c3 (nonprofit status)  You will need a plan to get through those first 2 yrs at least and a board of directors and helpers.

The best place to start is to volunteer for at least a little while at a shelter in a nearby county.   That way you will gain expeprience and credibility.  

If you would like to talk more about this please email me.  We can also talk more about ways to fund this.