After 10 years in the former Curlee Manufacturing building, the Clark County Homeless Coalition is raising money to build an office space of its own.

In June, the Winchester-Clark County Planning Commission approved the plans for a 2,400 square-foot building in front of the CCHC’s Wainscott Hall residence.

Now comes the task of raising the needed funds, CCHC Executive Director Terry Davidson said. So far, $55,000 has been pledged to the project, which is estimated to cost $400,000.

Davidson said the staff has simply outgrown the available office space.

“We’ve had free office space and we’re very grateful for that,” she said. “We don’t have a waiting area. We don’t have enough space for our staff. To have a private conversation is almost impossible.”

The staff will be growing in the near future as CCHC recently received a $175,00 federal grant to provide services to the homeless in a 16-county area around, but not including, Fayette County, she said.

“It will require us to hire another case manager,” Davidson said. “It will allow us to serve more people and serve them in a better way.”

The grant from the Joint Transitional Housing Rapid Rehousing Grant from the Kentucky Housing Corporation will allow the CCHC to maintain three long-term apartments for families. The other facet will be to provide short-term housing opportunities throughout the 16 counties, she said.

Of those counties, only Clark, Scott, Franklin, Jessamine and Madison counties presently offer services for the homeless, she said, though Estill and Powell recently began programs.

The homeless in counties that don’t offer services will travel to those that do, she said, so many are coming to Clark County and others.

The grant funds would allow CCHC to double its abilities and programs, she said.

The anticipated expansion in programs and staff furthers the need for new offices, she said.

The new building, as designed, would include about 900 square-feet to be leased to an existing business in Winchester on a long-term basis, she said. The lease payments will then offset some of the costs of the building, she said.

Davidson wants to start building as soon as possible, but is depended on fundraising efforts. A number of naming opportunities are available, she said.

For more information, call 744-8733