City opens homeless resource center

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The city of Charleston, the Mayors’ Commission on Homelessness and Affordable Housing, and We Are Family have opened the new All of Us Resource Center for homeless individuals at 529 Meeting St. in downtown Charleston.

The center provides a place for homeless people in Charleston and those at risk of homelessness to connect with service providers and enroll in job readiness training, housing, educational programs, financial management workshops, life skills training, health care and mental health services.

The building is provided by the city, which is leasing the facility from KQC Investors LLC for no base rent, with an agreement to pay all operating expenses, taxes, insurance and utilities.

“When I formed the Mayors’ Commission on Homelessness and Affordable Housing along with our neighboring mayors, the purpose was to come up with creative ideas to tackle two of the greatest challenges facing our region,” Mayor John Tecklenburg in a statement. “The All of Us Resource Center is precisely that kind of initiative. I am uplifted by the number of service providers who have answered the call and will be offering their support to this important cause.”

We Are Family is responsible for general management of programs and operations. Services are offered through several community organizations, including Art Pot, YWCA Greater Charleston, Origin SC, Charleston Dorchester Mental Health Center and Charleston Pro Bono Legal Services.

“It is the duty of all of us to help the most underserved members of our community, the unsheltered,” Melissa Moore, executive director of We Are Family, said in a statement. “We, as a community, cannot sit by and watch our people suffer. We have to take care of each other, and that’s what this resource center is all about.”

Funding for the center is provided by the mayors’ commission’s Homeless to Hope Fund, the city of Charleston and private donations, including one from Google. Google employees worked to outfit the center’s computer lab and install all of its equipment.