The Marshall County Community Corrections Advisory Board members reviewed a request made by Brent Martin and Plymouth Mayor Mark Senter concerning the purchase of furniture for the Serenity House on Jefferson Street in Plymouth.
Martin explained that the request was brought to the Marshall County Community Corrections Advisory Board as the Serenity House, or permanent supportive housing, could be used for the county’s residents who may not have a permanent place to live. A portion of that population could be those sentenced to home detention with electronic monitoring, which justifies the request.
Some residents who could be placed on pre-trial diversion or home detention with electronic monitoring do not qualify as there is no place for the person to stay. Those people could stay at the facility, depending on availability, and receive supportive services from on-location entities like the Bowen Center. Within time, the person could use skills obtained from services offered to become independent and seek stable housing elsewhere.
The building is anticipated to be complete in November with occupancy set for late this year or early in 2022. There are 18 units with four one-bedroom units (navigate here), four three-bedroom units and 10 two-bedroom units.
Furnishings are not included in the construction costs. Martin asked for about $60,000 to assist in purchasing those items for this housing project. The request to the Marshall County Community Corrections Advisory Board members is estimated at less than half of what is needed for furnishings. Other funding comes from grants and other donations.
The advisory board members tabled a decision until Thursday afternoon when Community Corrections Director Ward Byers said it would be a good move for the board members to take to approve the request to help fill the gap in a continuous cycle of criminal activity.
“Permanent supportive housing is actually part of the criminal justice sequential intercept model and it’s actually at intercept zero,” explained Byers. “Intercept zero, if you’re familiar with the model, talks about services prior to them becoming a justice-involved individual or before law enforcement contact. It’s a place that individuals can be referred to to keep them out of the criminal justice system. That is was Project Hope is about and what is what other organizations are about to keep people out of that.”
From studies Byers said he researched, it saves funding in different aspects of health and incarceration due to homeless residents having a place to live.
He said the money is available to approve the request.
“I don’t think we need to look at it as ‘what are we going to get out of it?’ I think we need to look at it as an investment into people’s future and an investment in how can we help as a group reduce that recidivism and give people a leg up. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully they stay out of the criminal justice system. I know it’s probably a small number of individuals, but in our office we say ‘if we save one person or one person this week, it was worth coming to work every day’.”
He said the funding is available in the Community Transition Fund to support the request.
The advisory board members approved the request with Marshall County Superior Court No. 2 Judge Dean Colvin opposed to the motion.
