Press Release | November 24, 2020
Contact: Kelly Rose | krose@welcomehouseky.org | 859-431-8717
Welcome House has renovated a local Covington building to house homeless adults during the winter months.
[Covington, KY] Welcome House of Northern Kentucky, Inc., a homeless non-profit agency, in partnership with Urban Outreach, is opening an emergency winter shelter for single adults. The temporary winter shelter will open starting November 30, 2020, lasting through March 31, 2021. Thanks to emergency funding provided through the Cares Act, Welcome House will be able to shelter 26 individuals, where they will be provided food, clothing, and other basic amenities during the coldest winter months.“The pandemic has put a significant strain on our sheltering system. Our already limited shelter beds have decreased by almost seventy percent this winter due to social distancing guidelines,” explains Danielle Amrine, CEO of Welcome House. “We could have over fifty people sheltering outside this winter. We have to do something. We can’t let people in our community freeze to death this winter.”
Opening a winter shelter aligns with Welcome House’s mission to provide a continuum of services to take our most vulnerable neighbors from housing uncertainty to housing stability. By opening a winter shelter, Welcome House will be able to continue its mission of assisting the homeless, specifically single adults in our region, which is a service that is desperately needed in this community. Welcome House already shelters homeless women and children. Anyone seeking shelter should visit the Welcome House location at 205 W. Pike St. in Covington.
“Our goal is to stabilize the lives of these homeless individuals by operating this site 24/7. We will be able to provide needed wraparound services like case management, medical care, food, transportation, counseling in addition to shelter,” says Amrine. “If you want to end homelessness, you have to embrace a housing first philosophy. Once you get someone housed, you can work on all the other issues.”
For more information about Welcome House, please visit www.welcomehouseky.org
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About Welcome House
Founded in 1982, Covington-based Welcome House of Northern Kentucky works to end homelessness across the state. The organization’s continuum of services includes providing homeless individuals and families shelter and housing and ensuring people who are on the brink of homelessness or living in extreme poverty stay housed by managing their income and benefits. Welcome House also coordinates services with other community organizations to provide stability for everyone they serve. The Welcome House staff of nearly 50 includes experts in housing, budgeting, social security benefits, accounting, healthcare and street outreach. They are supported by thousands of volunteers and donors and a board of directors comprising community leaders and industry experts. Welcome House was a 2019 recipient of a $1.25 million grant from the Day 1 Families Fund – created by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to provide grants to organizations moving the needle on family homelessness.
