The Kelly Benson Apartments, at 3120 S. 3600 West in West Valley City, will provide affordable housing to 70 homeless people, age 55 and older, after construction is wrapped up in September.
A ceremony today at 3:30 p.m. will mark the start of work.
Kelly Benson, a longtime affordable-housing advocate after whom the building is named, will be there, along with city and housing officials.
The issue, Benson says, "has been important to me because I believe in people. I believe if you give a person a chance, it will always work."
For older adults, living on the streets means a life expectancy similar to that in a Third World country, says Kerry Bate, executive director of the Housing Authority.
"If we don't get them off the street," he says, "they're not going to live much longer. That's why we're targeting this age range."
The $8 million project is one of four housing facilities in Salt Lake County expected to be done by the end of 2008 that are part of a new tack at curbing homelessness.
Combined, the housing will provide more than 450 people with supported, permanent housing, instead of shelter beds or transitional homes. Residents will have access to social work, mental health care, job placement and property-maintenance services.
This new housing will serve a relatively small number of people: Salt Lake County's homeless population exceeds 10,000 a year. But the strategy, part of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s 10-year plan to end homelessness, is meant to target the chronically homeless.
That segment represents about 12 percent of the homeless population, says Bate, but consumes more than 50 percent of bed nights offered at shelters because they are homeless for long periods of time.
"If we could get the chronically homeless off the street, we could reduce service use by a significant amount," Bate says. "If they have a housing subsidy, they have a very high retention rate - 70 to 80 percent will be housed two to three years later."
At the Kelly Benson Apartments, 48 of the 59 units are expected to be subsidized by the federal Section 8 program, Bate says. Tenants will pay no more than 30 percent of their income - rent can be as low as $25 a month. Each of the remaining 11 units is set up for two people to share and pay a low, flat rent.
The Housing Authority is working with Valley Mental Health, which owns a neighboring senior housing project, Valley Horizons, to coordinate mental-health services for Benson residents.
"They're going to be working with seniors who are 55 and older and homeless. Many of our clients meet those criteria," says Richard Hatch, chief clinical officer at VMH. "Having a home makes a big difference in someone's mental health."
Benson, whose work has focused on finding homes for the mentally ill, agrees.
More than 20 years ago, he was hit by a motorcycle while crossing the street and suffered a head injury, resulting in long-term memory lapses and seizures.
Benson, now 60, spent eight months in a coma and the subsequent 20-plus years fighting for housing options for people with serious mental-health problems who might struggle to hold a job or secure an apartment.
"If [people have] food and shelter, their illness will cease to be a big deal, and they can start fending for themselves and become self-sufficient," says Benson, who helped launch the Counter Point housing project in Murray 15 years ago.
Benson was "shocked" to learn a 59-unit housing project will be named in his honor.
"I'm just getting the credit, but a lot of other people have sure been behind me."
rwinters@sltrib.com
Financing secured for the $8 million Kelly Benson Apartments:
* Federal tax credits: $4,911,364
* State tax credits: $493,451
* Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund: $1,250,000
* Salt Lake County: $500,000
* West Jordan: $157,000
* West Valley City: $100,000
* Salt Lake City: $50,000
* Crusade for the Homeless: $100,000
* American Express: $25,000
The Salt Lake County Housing Authority has applied for an additional $320,000 from local donors.
Source: Salt Lake County Housing Authority
