Beth-El Center’s New Building Approved by Milford Planning and Zoning
On Tuesday, June 18, 2024, the Milford Planning and Zoning Board unanimously approved Beth-El Center's proposed new operations site at 995 Bridgeport Avenue in Milford. In addition, there were over thirty written letters of support for the project plus fifty supporters who were present at the Planning and Zoning meeting. The Beth-El Center project had no community opposition to the planned expansion, a testament to the positive and trusting relationships built by the Beth-El Center with the community at large.
The new home for Beth El Center operations will be a three-story building, focused on increasing homeless prevention and housing stability for families and individuals experiencing homelessness in the greater Milford community.
Following national best practices around homeless response, the planned Beth-El operations has adapted successful models from across the country, focused on solving for homelessness.
According to Jenn Paradis, "The new building will allow us to right-size our operations. It will be transformational and will include a 24-hour 365-day access point through a community kitchen that is publicly available to everyone."
The new building will allow for increased positive and sustained outcomes through amplified programs and services. In addition to an expanded Community Kitchen, there will be resources to meet basic needs like laundry, showers, Wi-Fi, computer access and space for continuing education and workforce development.
Based on Beth-El's current No-Freeze, crisis winter shelter model, the new building will offer homeless individuals and families shelter on any given night, year-round. Their Emergency Shelter program will move away from congregate living to micro sheltering, like a hotel model that will allow for increased health and safety, dignity and support for the special needs of each individual, veteran and family that comes through its doors.
The new building will have eleven supportive housing apartments which are a combination of affordable housing and supportive services for households with a history of complex medical needs and chronic homelessness.
The Beth-El Center has an operational plan to solve homelessness, and this new operations space will allow for the environmental conditions necessary to make that plan possible. It is the Beth-El Center's mission to addresses homelessness effectively and sustainably and as such, Beth-El Center will be a leader in our state, with aim to becoming the first municipality in the State of Connecticut to end homelessness as we know it today.
For more information about the Beth-El Center and plans for its new building, contact us at info@bethelmilford.org
