Frankfort’s Simon House homeless shelter temporarily closing

FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) – Simon House is the only emergency homeless shelter in Frankfort. That means they take people off the streets whenever needed and house them until they’re ready to move on to a more permanent living situation.

Chairman of the board for Simon House, John Martin, said due to the lack of funding, the shelter made the decision to close its doors last week.

“We are in a brief, hopefully, temporary close. We had a bit of a cash flow problem last week getting ready for our next pay period and we made the decision to close because comprehensive, ongoing, stable funding is an issue for us as it is for an awful lot of non-profits,” said Martin.

The shelter is made up of 16 beds and has 12 full-time workers and four part-time workers. Martin said it costs $1,000 dollars a day just to keep the daycare and housing portion of the building up and running.

Rick Woods came to Simon House off the streets last October.

He stayed in a bed for two months as he got back on his feet. He’s now getting an apartment and volunteers at the shelter regularly. He said he was heartbroken when he got the news.

“That’s why I get emotional. There’s so many people out there that people don’t realize that there’s a lot of people like me, myself and others that need help, you know? And then once they understand that, hey, there’s somebody there for me, you know, I can maybe make myself better and that’s what Simon House is all about,” said Woods.

Although the daycare and housing portion is closing, not all of Simon House’s efforts are coming to a stop. The shelter provides essential items such as food and clothing to help people stay on their feet. The shelter even has a nurse on staff, which is rare.
She checks the resident’s mental and physical health and helps them set up appointments. Simon House also holds job fairs so residents can afford permanent housing when they find it.

Tasha Gray, an administrative assistant at Simon House, said these resources will continue to be given out and are curtailed to residents.

“So I had a mom with two teenagers that she had a job, she had everything, and COVID hit her really bad, and all of a sudden she had no income. She was about to be homeless, and we were able to help her with those essential so she could save her money for the rent,” said Gray.

Now, the shelter is doing everything it can to place the residents before closing into a more permanent situation. The shelter is currently helping lodge the residents in a hotel so they have a roof over their heads, but Martin said this causes new barriers to cross.

“They either had an eviction, or a conviction blocks them from nearly all housing. So, we have folks who are ready to move into their own housing, their own apartment, but they can’t because of that. And that’s something we really have to address statewide, nationwide,” said Martin.