Louisville’s Community Care Campus adds transitional housing for homeless young adults

Louisville Metro and Volunteers of America are partners in the Community Care Campus, which construction began on last September. Officials envision the campus as a one-stop shop for homeless services, with a family shelter, a community center and on-site affordable housing. It is located near Interstate 65 and Breckinridge Street, where the Vu Hotel and C2 event space used to be.

On Tuesday, city officials and service providers announced $650,000 in funding to convert the Vu Guest House into 15 transitional housing units. The Jewish Heritage Fund, a Louisville-based nonprofit, is providing the money, which will cover the cost of renovations and a full year of operations. The units will be reserved for people ages 18 to 24. The building is currently used as a temporary shelter for families, who will move to the old Vu Hotel once that space is renovated.

Jennifer Hancock, president and CEO of VoA Mid-States, said people in this age range are at particular risk of becoming homeless. “Some of these individuals have been engaged in the foster care system, the Department of Community Based Services,” Hancock said. “They age out of care and fall over that cliff and, without those services, find themselves in crisis.” Her description of young people leaving care without support points to a call to defend the vulnerable (Psalm 82:3).

Hancock said young people are the fastest-growing demographic of people experiencing homelessness in Louisville. According to the report she cited, YMCA’s Safe Place program assisted 158 young adults in accessing shelter and other services in 2024, up from 133 the year before. The 2025 point-in-time count found 1,831 people living on the streets or in shelters in Jefferson County.

YMCA’s Safe Place Services team will operate the transitional housing program. The team connects young adults to shelter through street outreach and a crisis hotline.

Isaiah Daniels, a former Safe Place participant, spoke at Tuesday’s press conference. He said the program gave him the support he needed to move successfully into independent living after experiencing childhood abuse and the deaths of loved ones. “I’ve been homeless multiple times,” he said. “The first time, I was at my lowest point. I thought I had no one else to turn to at all. That’s when I met some pretty amazing staff at Safe Place.” Daniels said staff helped him learn he could be “resilient, patient, strong and also stay positive no matter the situation I was in.” He is now housed and employed at GE Appliances and is working on an associate’s degree at Jefferson Community and Technical College.

City officials and VoA leaders said Tuesday that Phase 1 of the Community Care Campus should be complete by next spring. Hancock said that phase includes the Unity House, an emergency shelter for families experiencing homelessness, where families will have access to case management and housing placement. VoA also plans to move its administrative offices into the old C2 event center by the end of next year, along with other partners who will provide on-site services. The site plans also include a medical respite center for 30 people experiencing homelessness who are recovering from health emergencies. “We’re currently working on the design for medical respite and then we’ll be bidding out that project,” Hancock said.

Hancock said VoA needs more guidance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development before deciding how to incorporate affordable housing into the Community Care Campus.

Source: Read the original report