Bowling Green city manager, Salvation Army discuss $4M homeless plan

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The plan proposed by Mayor Todd Alcott has recently been approved to help curb the homelessness situation Bowling Green faces.

Out of the 4 million dollars Alcott proposed to the city commissioners and non-profits in Bowling Green that have an interest in assisting the homeless population, 2 million of that is going toward remodeling and maintaining the old family thrift store building owned by the Salvation Army which has long been used for storage.

News 40 sat down with Jeff Meisel, Bowling Green’s city manager for a short interview. Meisel was happy to say this was a team effort.

“The mayor went to work and got the Salvation Army involved,” he said, “They happen to have an empty building on their property that a million dollars is going toward to remodel.”

In this building will be several nonprofit organizations but currently solidified are Room in the Inn, Hotel Inc. and Salvation Army.

News 40 also talked to Captain Johnny Horton over at the Salvation Army, who wanted to clarify this would not be a new shelter.

“We’ll have showers and laundry areas for people, but it won’t be somewhere to stay over night,” Horton said. “This will be a place of business where people can come who need help, where problems will be solved.”

Horton doesn’t have a timeline set just yet but hopes to be fully functional by the end of the summer.