At their meeting held Jan. 25, 2012, the Tyler City Council voted unanimously to convey ownership of a vacant City building to the Gateway to Hope, 501c3, for the purposes of establishing a day resource center to assist homeless individuals.
“I am very pleased that we are able to take this action today to tangibly help those in need in our community,” said Tyler Mayor Barbara Bass. “Our report on homelessness was just released and we formed the Homeless Roundtable today. This step toward establishing a day resource center meets an additional need identified in our 10 point plan.”
The center, which will be owned and operated by Gateway to Hope, will provide services desperately needed by homeless individuals including access to photo identification, lockers to store possessions, an address and mail boxes – which are needed to apply for employment, laundry facilities, access to computers, haircuts, and much more.
“The services that will be provided by Gateway to Hope are needed in our community,” said Councilmember Martin Heines who leads the newly established Homeless Roundtable. “It is about giving folks in need a hand up; not a hand out.”
Subject to a pending zoning change and special use permit, the property to be conveyed to Gateway to Hope is located at 601 Valentine Street. The building was formerly the location for WIC, but is currently vacant. Provisions in the agreement call for ownership of the building to revert to the City of Tyler should it no longer be operated as agreed upon.
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