From The Salt Lake Tribune:
One woman’s restless, decadeslong quest to lift up homeless Utahns led to the opening Tuesday of a brand new living center on Salt Lake City’s west side.
Pamela Atkinson, dubbed the state’s version of Mother Teresa for her lifelong work, said that since last April’s groundbreaking for the five-story apartment complex to be known as Pamela’s Place, people she assists daily on the streets have kept her updated on its progress.
“It’s been very good for their self-esteem because it wasn’t taking an old building and remodeling it,” Atkinson said as part of a ribbon-cutting and emotional celebration at the newly finished facility, at 525 S. 500 West.
“It’s a brand new building, and very few of my homeless friends have had anything brand new for many years,” she said. The longtime advocate for the disadvantaged added later that “when you walk into the building, this does not feel like a shelter. This literally feels like home.”
The nonprofit Housing Authority of Salt Lake City will offer 100 small apartments of permanent, supportive and rent-subsidized housing at Pamela’s Place.
Units in the $13.6 million housing complex will give chronically homeless and disabled residents a stable living setting while they address other needs, with case managers, a rare 24-hour health clinic and community spaces, as well as a kitchen, garden and pet-care areas.
“It doesn’t mean people live here forever. But it does mean they don’t have to worry about being evicted or displaced,” said the housing authority’s executive director, Daniel Nackerman. “This great new community of homes will have safe and stable housing at a time we really need it in this country.”
Read The Salt Lake Tribune's article "New housing for the homeless opens in Salt Lake City, and it’s named after the state’s 'Mother Teresa,"’ featuring the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City.