Press Room

After securing millions in funding, a historic designation, and its share of delays, the conversion of the old Fifth Avenue Motel into housing for the homeless is finally underway.

The Volunteer Ministry Center broke ground on Minvilla Manor at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

"Minvilla means that some of Knoxville's most vulnerable displaced people will be given housing and support to become neighbors," said 10 Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness Director Jon Lawler.

"We're going to do something to help our fellow citizens get people off the streets and give them a better life," said Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale.

The project aims to provide rent-subsidized apartments for 57 formerly homeless men and women, along with on-site case management and staff. The project seeks to address the chronically homeless, considered unable to retain housing or employment without outside intervention and treatment, often due to substance addiction and mental health issues.

"Get people on the path to changing their life instead of just maintaining where they were," said Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam.

City and county leaders sought to combine the need for permanent supportive housing with their desire to save the historic 5th Avenue Motel, which has a cornerstone dating back to 1913.

"It's a magnificent architectural building and it's something we wanted to preserve," said Knoxville City Council Member Barbara Pelot.

However, critics say the project is behind schedule and over cost. With a $7 million price tag, the cost per apartment is approximately $125,000. Building an entirely new facility would cost only $90,000 per apartment. Additionally, lawmakers and residents in the area around it have expressed concerns of the concentration of homeless services in their area.

"What I do have a problem with is making sure we make more firm our commitment to spread out the resources devoted to homelessness so we don't create a 'ghetto effect'," said Knox County Commissioner Mark Harmon.

Supporters argue Minvilla will do the opposite. Instead of homeless individuals crowding sidewalks or wandering into nearby neighborhoods, the housing units will give them a place to be.

"It does not duplicate anything else that's around here. It will be a place that folks can refer to when they want to help people get off the streets," said Volunteer Ministry Center CEO Ginny Weatherstone.

VMC bought the old Fifth Avenue Motel in 2006 and hoped to start renovations in the fall of 2006. The project was then slated to cost $4 million.

But the project grew in scope, and a historic designation by the Department of the Interior would follow in June 2008. That designation allows historic tax credits to be sold to help finance the project. At that point, organizers hoped to start renovations in the fall of 2008.

Later on that fall, it would get grant funding from Knox County and the city of Knoxville. Private donations are a significant source of funding for the project, with a projected cost of $7 million as of last November.

At that point, about $5 million was slated to come from tax credits and private donations. $1.7 million came from federal and state taxes, allocated by Knoxville and Knox County.

The project finally broke ground Tuesday.

Minvilla Manor is a part of the Knoxville/Knox County Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, which puts a focus on "housing first." It aims to get homeless individuals into permanent supportive housing as a means to help them manage the life issues that drove them to the street in the first place.

VMC reports its success rate of helping people retain housing is 88 percent, compared to a national success rate of 80 to 85 percent.

The VMC also works to help people who are near the brink of becoming homeless maintain their housing. The Volunteer Ministry Center was established in 1987.