BALTIMORE — On Collington Avenue near Johns Hopkins Hopsital, a former MICA building stood vacant. But soon, the structure will be put to good use: housing and resources for folks who need them.
Baltimore Safe Haven, an organization dedicated to providing a welcoming environment to the LGBTQ+ community, will open the building after they renovate it. The structure's rooms will serve two dozen people who need transitional or permanent housing, and will include clinical resources under the same roof.
"The basement, being a community hub, can be [used] for community events, or as a hypothermia shelter in the wintertime," said Renee Lau, administrative assistant and senior projects coordinator for the organization.
Iya Dammons, the group's founder, closed on the building over the weekend. The organization envisions the building as a 'one-stop' center for resources.
A Monday news release from the organization called the building "a monumental step in providing essential housing and resources to TGLBQIA community members in Baltimore."
Baltimore Safe Haven was founded in 2018, and has operated out of a headquarters on Charles Street.
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The new center is made possible by private donors like the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, as well as public funding from various state, city and federal sources. The building itself will be named for the Weinbergs, and for State Sen. Mary Washington.
"I believe the number last week," Lau recalled, "was homelessness is up 18 percent nationwide and Baltimore is no exception. Even though we've gotten more and more space for people, we've gotten more and more homeless people."
The organization will begin to renovate the building at the beginning of next week, and will subsequently announce a grand opening.
