The state has vowed to chip in $4.2 million toward the planned new Father Bill’s & MainSpring facility for the homeless in Quincy.
Gov. Charlie Baker announced the funding Wednesday after touring Father Bill’s and meeting with guests there.
Baker said the money for Father Bill’s is part of $20 million that would go toward housing initiatives throughout the state.
He said the state needs more housing projects of all kinds to contend with a housing shortage in Massachusetts.
“Housing is expensive because we don’t make enough of it,” Baker said.
The current Father Bill’s building at 38 Broad St. is scheduled to be torn down to make way for a new public safety building that will hold Quincy’s police department.
The nonprofit is planning to move across the street into two new buildings.
One building, which will be built first, will consist of a day center with space for programs and training, an emergency shelter and a health care clinic, among other amenities.
The other building, which will be built in a second phase, will hold 30 small apartments for permanent housing.
The project overall will cost about $24 million, said John Yazwinski, president and CEO of Father Bill’s & MainSpring.
Yazwinski said the state money will go toward the first building.
He said the nonprofit needs to find $7 million in private funding for the new facilities, but before even starting a fundraising campaign it has already received $3.2 million in donations.
Construction on the first phase of what is being dubbed the Housing Resource Center is set to begin later this year.
Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch called the project a “new beginning.”
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, who was also in Quincy, said the new Father Bill’s facility exemplifies a state push toward “supportive housing” for those experiencing homelessness, combining programming and resources with places to live.
“Hopefully, some of the guests can move into affordable housing and free up room at shelters,” Polito said. “This model (lets people) access the support they need.”
The Father Bill’s project was awarded $4 million through the Department of Housing and Community Development’s supportive housing funding for construction costs and an additional $250,000 through the state’s Housing Choice Community Capital Grant Program for design and engineering services
The new emergency shelter will have 75 beds, about 60 fewer than the current shelter, but the facility will be configured to be able to expand if necessary.
“We want to end homelessness, not manage it, and the Housing Resource Center will move us closer to that goal,” Yazwinski said. “The (center) is a solutions-based, proactive approach that meets individuals further upstream in their housing crisis. By investing in day services that re-house homeless individuals more quickly and prevent more people from entering shelter, we will lower public costs, reduce reliance on shelter beds and downtown spaces, and provide our neighbors in need with stability and a pathway to self-sufficiency.”
In September 2020, Father Bill’s signed a 99-year-lease with Quincy for the new site at 39 Broad St.
Speaker of the House Ron Mariano, D-Quincy, attended Baker’s announcement Wednesday along with the rest of Quincy’s delegation to the Legislature. Mariano called Father Bill’s a “truly great mark on Quincy.”
Yazwinski said, “Father Bill is looking down from heaven and he’s very happy today.”
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Joe Difazio can be reached at jdifazio@patriotledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @jldifazio.