START Corp. Celebrates Grand Opening of Wren Way Supportive Housing

START Corp. celebrated the grand opening of Wren Way Supportive Housing with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Wren Way Supportive Housing serves individuals that have a serious or persistent mental illness. The residents need additional staffing support and need additional life-training skills in order to be able to transition to an independent lifestyle. Each unit has two beds, one bathroom, and one kitchen, where the stoves are only turned on for use when residents are functioning at a high level. The rooms are designed for double occupancy; however, it is currently only single occupancy due to COVID. As soon as residents can get tested and vaccinated, it will be transitioned into double occupancy once again. The resident housing provides 24/7 care and support for the residents. They also provide transportation to appointments and any support they may need in order to make them feel like they can function.

There is a facility next to the housing that provides three meals a day for the residents, and it also has a TV along with areas for the residents to function in a group environment. Although the facility is not currently open to provide these socializing group settings, they are hand-delivering meals, and the residents have been socializing in an outdoor setting. Nicole Ditch, Vice President of Marketing, said the residents have started to become friends and are starting to relate to each other, which is one of the goals for the residents.

“START, because we can provide many other services, it’s easy to provide support and life-skills to the residents and follow them step by step to see the progress they are making,” Ditch said, “ we are all about creating and providing opportunities, especially for those who have extra challenges and have mental health illness. We’re excited about being able to help these residents transition to help them feel like they can be independent, like they can be a part of the community, and continue to provide that support to them whether they are in our facility or they transitioned out.”

The maximum stay in the housing is two years, but normally, Ditch said they typically stay from 12-16 months. She said they don’t try to keep them in housing longer than they need, but realistically, between their income and their functioning level, they do have challenges, “you have to figure out what that transition is going to look like.” Many of the residents continue with formal services through START after transition which makes it easier to help them on their paths.

Ditch said they see a need in the community and had had a few community members at Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony that spoke highly of the relationships the organization has with the community. “START has led a lot of the push with a lot of the different housing programs. Just to have those partnerships with the rest of the community that is serving the housing need in some kind of way as well, and we’re all trying to work together to fill these gaps, it’s so refreshing,” Ditch said. “It should never be from a competitive side, together as a community, we have to serve. The more we work together the more we eliminate the gaps and the more that we will make people feel like they are in control of their own lives, and that they can face any challenge that they have every day.”