Needy renovations: Emergency residence needs facelift

After 15 years and more than 300 residents, the Emergency Residence Projects four-residence apartment building, which serves as transitional housing for those in need, is in need of some renovations.

The building was constructed in one week back in 1999 as part of the Blitz Build, and it has held up quite well. However, many of the inside necessities for the residents need to be replaced, said Alan Christy, deacon at St. Cecilia Catholic Church and the one who organized and supervised the construction in 1999.

You cant put 300 people through that building there and not have maintenance needs, he said. Its in need of new appliances, cupboards, counter tops, cabinets and floors.

The renovation cost is $13,000 per unit and Christy is trying to get a church to sponsor each one. So far, St. Cecilia and St. Thomas Aquinas have committed to one unit each.

The Emergency Residence Project, which began in 1985 for transient people in Ames but soon became a resource for local people and families in need, can house up to eight individuals and families at any time with its neighboring units and occasionally a couple motel rooms.

Vic Moss, director of the Emergency Residence Project, has taken care of the apartments since they were built, but no major work has been done on them since they were built.

Moss said the apartments are fine to live in, but Christy, whos one of the people leading the charge for the renovations, believes they should be improved.

We should make these places a home worthy of these people, he said. These are a place children will call home.

Moss, who has been with ERP since 1987, said there are about two calls per day from other nearby towns and cities, too of someone asking for housing for themselves or their family.

With an annual budget of about $400,000, the operation serves several families, spending a lot of its time trying to keep families and individuals, about 1,500 per year, in their current homes by helping with rent and utilities.

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Needy renovations: Emergency residence needs facelift