The Kitchen Inc. confirmed it will close the Missouri Hotel next month, marking an organizational shift for the nonprofit.
Rorie Orgeron, CEO of The Kitchen, told Springfield Business Journal in November the organization was winding down operations at the Commercial Street homeless shelter, but did not disclose a firm date for closure. At the time, he noted a year-old effort to move toward a housing-first model.
“We’re moving people into permanent, affordable housing that is still supported through case management,” Orgeron told SBJ last year. “All the best practices and all the studies have shown that the housing-first model works much better than putting people in congregate housing. We changed our structure to start working in that vein.”
In a
YouTube video posted last week, The Kitchen Board of Trustees President Stephanie Ireland said the residence would close Feb. 27.
Ireland said people in emergency shelter situations would filter through the One Door clearing house to best determine their needs. Before moving into permanent housing, these people could temporarily live in The Kitchen’s Ollis building or K.I.N.D. Place. The Kitchen also partners with food pantries and medical centers for those in dire need.
“We want to get permanent homes for these people,” Ireland said, noting a need to move people through those buildings as quickly as possible.
In November, Orgeron pointed to The Kitchen’s Beacon Village development as an example. When the 3902 W. Helen St. development opened in 2013, Orgeron said over 20 families relocated to the affordable apartment community from the Missouri Hotel.
“Those are families who were formerly homeless families,” he said. “We continue to move people out into the community as we can get them qualified and as we can find places for them.”
Orgeron said when The Kitchen is no longer using the Missouri Hotel, it would place the 120-room, roughly 40,000-square-foot property up for sale. The Kitchen took over the 1920s-built building around 1985.[[In-content Ad]]
