An $8.2 million financing package from U.S. Bank (NYSE: USB) will enable Omaha's Siena/Francis House (SFH) to provide services for the chronically homeless who are disabled or have a severe mental illness. Besides breaking ground on 48 new supportive housing units, the funds will build a new Community Services Facility that will enable SFH to serve more people more efficiently by bringing together an array of public and private service providers under one roof to work with the homeless to help them navigate a path to self-sufficiency.
SFH celebrated with a ceremonial groundbreaking on Friday, February 10th. for the new housing development and community services facility on its existing near north side campus in the 1110 block of 18th Street, about a mile from the Omaha Central Business District. SFH is currently developing a single campus providing a full range of Continuum of Care services for the chronically homeless. Construction is expected to be complete by December 2012.
U.S. Bank will provide a $3.2 million construction loan and, through its community development arm, U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation, will make a $5 million affordable housing tax credit investment in to the project, which pairs with funds from the Federal Home Loan Bank and a HUD Permanent Supportive Housing grant. Currently SFH's services are stretched beyond capacity as the nonprofit provides shelter for up to 490 persons each night; meals for an average of 1,200 people each day; assistance to over 250 men, women, and children in its Day Services Program; employment to over 100 men and women in its training program; and support to 79 men and women in its addiction recovery center.
"We're proud to help Siena Francis House," said W. Paul Olsen, assistant vice president of U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation. "This exciting project demonstrates how private and public partnerships, made possible by the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, benefit our society. Today we are creating real construction jobs. Tomorrow we will create real hope for 48 people with disabilities by providing them with an affordable place to live and a support network that will see them through. In the future, the Community Services Facility will facilitate real, lasting change by breaking cycles that feed the problem of homelessness."
Siena/Francis House director Mike Saklar said, "This project will enhance our community's ability to better serve the homeless men, women and children who show up in need of assistance and housing. The new apartments that will be built will complement our family and single-men's shelters, as well as the transitional housing we currently provide.
About Siena/Francis House
Founded in 1975, the Siena/Francis House is Omaha's and Nebraska's largest homeless shelter, providing food, emergency shelter, clothing and other services to homeless men, women, and children. The Siena/Francis House also houses a residential addiction recovery program, a Day Services Center, an employment training program, and a medical clinic. The Siena/Francis House has an "open door" policy, in that we try to never turn away any person or family who come to us in need, regardless of the circumstances that led them to be in need of our services. The Siena/Francis House Siena/Francis House serves more meals and provides more nights of shelter to the homeless than any other charitable organization in the State of Nebraska.
SOURCE U.S. Bank
