Brookview House at 2 Brookview St. in Dorchester needs an additional $585,000 to move ahead with plans for an expansion and renovation.
At a time when shelters are overcrowded and state budget cuts have wreaked havoc on programs for the needy, a Dorchester home for homeless women is poised to expand.
Brookview House, an eight-unit apartment building that offers transitional housing and support services for homeless women and their children, wants to build four new apartments and expand its after-school youth treatment space. The nonprofit is also looking into opportunities to become more involved with low-income housing projects in the future.
One of the reasons we need additional space is because of the increase in the number of homeless families over the last one or two years, said Deborah Hughes, executive director of Brookview House.
About three months ago, Brookview purchased a 12-unit apartment building on Moreland Street in Roxbury that women living in the transitional housing units can move into once they’re ready.
Now, the nonprofit is trying to round up funds to proceed with the expansion of Brookview House. So far, more than $800,000 has been raised and an additional $585,000 is needed to proceed, according to Peter Schwarz, a Brookview House board member.
According to the group’s Web site, more than 163 women and children have lived in Brookview House since it was developed in 1990. Seventy-three percent of the families are still in permanent housing, and 75 percent are either employed or attending school.
Residents, who are referred by social service and state agencies, stay anywhere from three months to a year. The residents get help with job and home searches, education, training and childcare. Once the on-site staff has helped them achieve their goals, residents are prepared to move to a more permanent living situation.
As the women are getting assistance with daily life skills, their children are also receiving critical support services from staff at Brookview House.
Hughes said the youth treatment space provides therapeutic programs, tutoring, mentoring, arts classes and field trips for children ages 6 to 12. During the winter, children can participate from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., and hours are extended during the summer. While children participate in the program, their mothers are typically attending classes or searching for jobs.
Additionally, Brookview House works with a group that offers preschool programs for children younger than 6, and the nonprofit also tries to find appropriate programs for teenagers.
It’s an incredibly challenging population, said Schwarz, referring to the mothers and children who come to Brookview House.
Success Stories
Once the residents set their goals, said Schwarz, the women are generally successful in getting back on their feet again with the support of the Brookview House staff. Most of the residents are out of the transitional housing and into more permanent housing in less than year, he said.
Brookview House does not maintain a waiting list but notifies the Department of Transitional Assistance when a unit is vacant. When a unit isn’t available, the DTA typically sends people to shelters it runs or to motels. By some estimates, as many as 300 families are being forced to live in hotel or motel rooms throughout the Bay State because the shelters are filled.
The board of Brookview House decided to expand and renovate the facility more than a year ago because there is such a shortage of housing units – particularly transitional housing that also offers supportive services.
Brookview’s plan calls for a 7,000-square-foot addition to be built on land that the group owns and currently uses for parking. About 2,200 square feet of the additional space will be used for the after-school program. That program currently accommodates up to 25 children, but the new space will allow up to 60 children to participate.
In addition, one or two offices for Brookview staff will be created, and four new apartments will be built.
While the construction is going on, Brookview also wants to rehabilitate the kitchens, bathrooms, floors and windows of the existing units. The house also needs some roof repairs, said Schwarz.
Schwarz said the units have experienced normal wear and tear from years of use by different families, but because the house did not have a capital reserve to lean on and deferred maintenance, the units are definitely in need of some work.
Brookview House has patched together loans and grants from various city, state and private sources, including a $10,000 grant from the Massachusetts Bankers Association.
The majority of the funding is coming from loans from Wainwright Bank and by the Community Economic Development Assistance Corp.
The project is being developed with assistance from Harold Raymond of Design Development Consultants and Gail Sullivan Assoc., both Boston-based firms.
Officials are hoping to start construction this winter and finish by the fall.
