Landmark project to ease chronic homelessness

With the presentation of a $587,000 check Friday, Utah's first-ever apartment complex for chronically homeless residents is officially on its way.

"This is going to be the type of a project that's going to be watched around the country," said John Carson, regional director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, of the 100-unit Sunrise Metro Apartments.

The nearly $600,000 grant, from HUD's Continuum of Care program, will enable the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City to break ground on the $9 million project next month.

Residency at the downtown apartment complex, at 542 W. 600 South, will be open for single, homeless or formerly homeless Utahns. Twenty units will be specifically reserved for veterans like Joe Morrow, who now lives at Valor House, a temporary shelter for homeless veterans.

"This is a tremendous thing," Morrow said Friday. "This is the first time in Utah that there's a permanent place for us to go."

Valor House, located on the Salt Lake campus for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, restricts residency to 24-month stays. The Sunrise Metro Apartments offer a permanent residence for Utah's chronically homeless, who make up just 12 percent of the state's overall homeless population but consume 57 percent of the resources.

Offering these people a place to live with on-site case management, as Sunrise will have, frees up resources for the more "typical" homeless population, such as those individuals or families dealing with a temporary loss of shelter.

It also gives the homeless a sense of independence and freedom that comes with their own private living space, said authority executive director Rosemary Kappes.

"It's a very humane way to deal with the homeless rather than repeatedly cycling them through the shelters," Kappes said.

Apartment units will be small — a studio or one-bedroom — and self-contained with their own kitchens and bathrooms. The building will have 24-hour security, and residents will be required to conform to rules that will be drafted over the next year.

Rent will be calculated on an individual basis and will be 30 percent of the person's income, often Social Security or disability benefits.

Sunrise Apartments are part of the state's 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness, which has also been adopted by Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County, and various other cities and entities across the state.

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