Former convent to become housing for homeless women
NEW YORK: A convent is set to continue its tradition of providing shelter for women.
It was built in the early ‘60s to house nuns from the Sisters of St. Joseph who taught at the former St. Mary’s School.
The convent at 23 Center St. is now being renovated to serve a new group of women. It will be an emergency transitional housing facility for up to nine single, homeless women.
Work on the conversion began about a month ago by Frank J. Marianacchi Construction of Bloomfield, the lowest of four bidders at $1,069,600.
The sponsor of the housing project is the Cayuga-Seneca Community Action Agency, headquartered in Auburn with an office in Waterloo. The agency had been leasing the former convent from St. Francis-St. Clare Parish for its Seneca County operations.
The CSCCA has moved out to allow the renovation work and is now located in the former St. Mary’s Rectory next door.
“We are excited about this project. It serves a real need and we look forward to getting referrals from social agencies in the first quarter of next year when the renovations are scheduled to be done,’’ said Tricia Kerr, director of marketing for CSCAA.
Most of the work will be to the interior, which Kerr said will be basically gutted to build nine bedrooms and shared common areas of a kitchen, dining room and storage area. Exterior work will include new windows, a new roof and water lines to serve the new sprinkler system, Kerr said.
“This will be a transitional housing facility. A single woman can stayed for up to two years and will receive ongoing case management services while here and for up to six months after she leaves to go on her own,’’ Kerr said.
Women referred to the facility have encountered a crisis that caused them to be homeless. They will be counseled to again be self-sufficient, including job skills training. “Each woman will have an individualized plan that sets goals so they can be self sufficient,’’ Kerr said.
She said the facility will not be a safe house for victims of domestic violence. Kerr said women in that situation will be referred to Safe Harbors of the Finger Lakes for discreet, secret emergency housing. She said referrals will come from several human service agencies, with most expected from the Seneca County Department of Human Services.
CSCAA has purchased the former convent and will lease the former rectory. The Waterloo Rotary Club has donated the beds for the facility.
Kerr said funding for the project will come from Generations Bank, the village of Waterloo through its Community Development Block Grant funds and the New York State Office of Housing and Community Renewal. The facility will have an annual operating budget of around $75,000.
