COLUMBIA, S.C. — Things are moving right along at Rapid Shelter Columbia which was first announced back in September. The city is building 50 pallet cabins around the inclement weather center on Calhoun Street.
Columbia's Taskforce to Prevent and End Homelessness says their intention was to have the cabins finished by November 1.
Wednesday afternoon, Adam Araujo who owns Purfect Turf, was at the site installing artificial grass that the homes will sit on. Araujo says he was happy to be part of the project.
"We're building a place that is going to be able to help people that are in a really bad situation," Araujo said. "We can help get them on their feet and kind of help them get back to where they were."
Columbia City Manager, Teresa Wilson told me the project is coming along very quickly with the pallet homes being delivered next week.
"We've worked with all of our partner providers in Columbia to make sure we have all the infrastructure in place so now it will be assembling the units, still finishing that construction, and so far we're on schedule," Wilson explained.
With the final touches being put on the property, the city has also moved to start hiring staff that will run the homes.
This week, the city appointed Kameisha Heppard as the Director of Homeless Services in Columbia, and Mackin Wall as the Homeless Services Project Manager.
"They will just be in charge of making sure the resources get to who needs them and things are administered where they need to go."
The rapid housing will open in the next two weeks, and start welcoming people soon, for those unable to get into the rapid shelters the inclement weather center will stay open to provide overflow shelter as well.
The City of Columbia told me in addition to the directors they hired, they are looking to hire people to continually monitor and help out the rapid housing property. The applications can be found on the City of Columbia's website.