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SALT LAKE CITY — Humane. Safe. Contextual. Connected. Trauma-informed.
Those words, said Jill Jones of ACJ Architects, are helping "drive" the designs of the new resource centers that have been promised to be starkly different than the troubled, 1,100-bed shelter currently serving homeless people on Rio Grande Street downtown.
"It's a different building design that really embraces a humane support system," Jones said. "It's not institutional, not cold, not harsh. It's designed to be very comforting."
Jones and the centers' owner, Shelter the Homeless, unveiled those preliminary designs Tuesday during a community forum at The Leonardo Museum in Salt Lake City.
The renderings include floor plans for the two, 200-bed shelters and give the first detailed look at the facilities, inside and out.
The centers — a woman's facility at 131 E. 700 South and a mixed gender, segregated facility at 275 W. High Ave. — will both include courtyards, kitchens, offices for service providers and case managers, health units, laundry rooms, client storage rooms, donation intake areas, computer labs among other amenities.
Officials have estimated that each center would cost about $10 million to complete.
The first floor of the mixed gender facility will house the men's bunks, while the second floor will house women, along with separate restrooms and showers.
Both facilities are designed to "offer dignity" and "encompass all the services and support" that will be offered to homeless clients, Jones said.
Facing public outrage when selecting the sites for the resource centers, Salt Lake City officials promised the new centers wouldn't look anything like the downtown Road Home shelter, but rather be more neighborhood friendly and conducive to connecting the homeless to services.
She said the new facilities' design "absolutely" delivers on the promise to build shelters very different than the Rio Grande shelter.
"These facilities are going to be very different," she said.
Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski's deputy chief of staff, David Litvack, said Tuesday the designs show the resource centers are "beginning to embody the components that are important" for facilities be successful.
"We do think that it's coming together in a very positive way," Litvack said, but he noted the designs are still "at the very beginning stages."
"There is still a lot more work to be done, but we feel these schematic designs are addressing the issues that are important to helping better serve individuals experiencing homelessness," he said.
Litvack noted the outdoor courtyards and designs to prevent queuing outside the facility — an issue at the downtown shelter that has been the source of many complaints.
"We feel it's heading in the right direction," he said, adding that city officials also want to make sure the buildings "integrate well into the neighborhoods."
But city officials are still welcoming community members to give feedback and express concerns if they have any.
Litvack urged residents to attend two open houses at the sites this week to give feedback and voice any concerns about the facilities' designs. The open house for the women's shelter at 131 E. 700 South is Wednesday from 4-6 p.m. The forum for the mixed-gender facility at 277 W. High Ave is Thursday from 4-6 p.m.
