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MIDVALE — After his family was evicted from their apartment, Colby Straub says he waged a valiant effort so they would not to end up in a homeless shelter.
They stayed with friends for a while, but the arrangements didn't last long. Straub, his wife, Annie, and their daughter Lilly, 3, slept in their car for about a week and a half and occasionally spent nights in hotels.
"I had a good-paying job a month ago. Overnight, everything was taken out from under us. We spent everything we had trying to stay out of here," Straub said.
One night in mid-October, the family showed up at the Road Home's downtown shelter around midnight.
"They gave us a hygiene bag and some bedding and we had a bed in 20 minutes," he said.
Since that day, the Road Home has helped the young family get back on track by providing a roof over their heads, and helping them obtain copies of their birth certificates and Straub's military discharge papers. Had Straub tried to get his military documents on his own, it would have taken months.
"They got it in about an hour," he said.
The Straubs are staying temporarily at the Road Home's Community Overflow Shelter in Midvale. They have received the green light to obtain housing, and a voucher will pay the rent for four months until the young family can get back on their feet.
The Road Home, which shelters, houses and provides intensive case management of homeless individuals, is in the process of finalizing its building permit to replace the community shelter.
The facility, a warehouse built for the purpose of cleaning and packaging celery, has served as a winter overflow shelter since 1989. The Road Home purchased the building in 2012 with plans to refurbish it, which started with replacing the roof. But officials and board members soon determined that the building's core problems persisted — it is inadequate for sheltering families and providing effective case management.
The Road Home launched a fundraising campaign and has been working through Midvale City's planning and zoning process to obtain a permit to build a new facility.
When the last families leave the overflow shelter in early April, the Road Home plans to level the building and build a new shelter.
"The replacement of this facility will not come a moment too soon," said Matthew Minkevitch, executive director of the Road Home.
At the same time, Minkevitch said he is grateful for the nonprofit's long-standing relationship with Midvale.
The overflow shelter, which can house up to 300 people, allows the Road Home to get larger numbers of people out of the cold. "We're glad we have it, and we'll be even happier when we replace it," Minkevitch said.
On average, families stay at the overflow shelter for 30 days before they are placed in permanent supportive housing or other arrangements can be made, Minkevitch said.
While sharing sleeping space with 60 other families is hardly ideal, Kendra Hardrict, who has been homeless three different times, said the Road Home "has helped me out the whole time I've been here."
Hardrict, who is eight months pregnant and has a 4-year-old son, Avanti, said she hopes that her family is in permanent supportive housing by the time the baby comes.
"We're supposed to be getting out (of the shelter) this week. After eight months, I should be getting out," she said, softly laughing.
Salt Lake City has many resources to help people who slip into homelessness and may perceive there is no way out, Hardrict said.
"If you put yourself outside, you choose to be outside. The Road Home accepts everyone," she said.
