NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Middle Tennessee homeless help group is making a home for people to transform their lives in.
Home Street Home is building its first of what they hope will be 10 houses to help the transient get back on their feet. Though the home is technically transitional housing, founder Steve Young said he's trying to work more closely with the people who will live there than other types of homeless housing.
"Until they get more comfortable in a general societal setting, we need to kind of give them some space and some time to acclimate," said Young. "I think the key to the whole thing is the mentorship program that we've put in place. Because each person will have a mentor and a mentor will only have one person."
Young himself was homeless for years. He said being homeless doesn't just affect your body, but your mind as well.
"The first thing that needs to happen is we need to start building back their self-worth. We need to start building back their belief that they matter to somebody," he said.
The building was essentially donated by a church, as the lease is next to nothing. However, Young is pouring a lot of resources, much of it donated, into restoring the home.
It will have all new features and furniture, he says. He really wants the people living there to feel like this is the start of something new.
"We've got to start down here and build them back up one step at a time," he said.
The home has four bedrooms and will house four people. Young said he wanted to avoid putting as many people as possible in the building. He's also going to offer ways for the people who live there to obtain their GEDs, jobs and even open bank accounts.
