Grace House shelter opens, welcomes first guests

KINGSPORT — After years planning and renovating, Grace House, Kingsport's newest homeless shelter, welcomed its first overnight guests."Our first quests walked in that first night and had smiling faces," Executive Director Alanna Leonberg said. "They were saying 'it's so nice.'"The 40-bed shelter opened on Dec. 2, starting at reduced capacity. First, 20 beds were available, half for men and half for women. Now, the shelter has 30 beds available."We had a soft opening for Grace House because we wanted to make sure all of the kinks were worked out," Leonberg said. "There were a couple small bumps in the road but we addressed those just fine."In it's first 10 days of operation, the shelter recorded 169 overnight stays — 119 from men and 49 from women."These numbers reflect the total occupied beds each night, not unique individuals," Leonberg said.In the near future, Leonberg said Grace House will operate at full capacity.Located in a 13,000 square-foot-building, the shelter offers showers, laundry facilities and hygiene products for guests. Downstairs, a day services center connects residents with community partners who provide case management, mental health services and referrals to health care like vision."We're also working on building schedules for workshops and learning opportunities to help some of our guests build skill sets if needed," Leonberg added.As far as staffing, she said a night monitor position and the day support staff position have been filled. In the future, more staffing positions may be created."We didn't want to staff up to quickly," Leonberg said. "Right now we have the staff necessary to operate, with the possibility of adding more positions but we want to be careful in doing that, and making sure we're staffing areas that are most needed."Grace House is entirely funded through community donations and supported by a team of volunteers. Leonberg said the non-profit organization is "in a healthy financial position.""We're always fundraising too," she aded. "The door is always open for anyone interested in touring the shelter and seeing what we're dong here."The journey to opening was not without it challenges, including delays in construction and last-minute adjustments to operations. Some of those included knocking down a brick wall in the day center, redoing the electrical system and adding a sprinkler system."We really appreciate the community's understanding and support over the past few years," Leonberg said. "We know it took some time in overcoming some of the construction hurdles but now we're here."As a low barrier shelter, Grace House has few entry requirements. One of the requirements is that guests cannot be on the sex offenders list. Leonberg said the organization does not require an ID upfront and that case management can help residents replace lost identification.The day center closes at 4 p.m., with night check-in beginning afterward for residents. People are required to be indoors and checked in by 10 p.m. Check out time the following morning is 8 a.m.At a Kingsport Board of Mayor and Alderman meeting, Leonburg said the shelter operates on a projected annual $500,000 budget."Speaking for myself and our board of directors, we all feel a huge sense of relief and accomplishment knowing we've been able to get the doors open and serve our neighbors in this way," Leonberg said. "We're excited to see what Grace House will grow into."For more information about Grace House, call 423-732-0552 or email info@kpthm.org.To schedule a tour, contact Alanna Leonberg at aleonberg@kpthm.org.