The Servant Center – an organization that helps homeless veterans – has requested that the Guilford County Board of Commissioners give the organization a half million dollars to expand offerings at a new center in a new building that will allow the center to provide 22 short-term beds for veterans with medical needs.

That $500,000 requested would be used to begin the new service and create 22 “medical respite beds” at the new facility that’s expected to open in mid-2025.

At a late November work session, the Guilford County commissioners discussed the potential funding, using federal American Rescue Plan Act money; however, they didn’t reach a decision on the matter and it will now be discussed again – and likely voted on – at the Board of Commissioners’ Thursday, Dec. 19 meeting.

At the work session, there didn’t seem to be any opposition to the project itself; however, several commissioners said they had just heard about the request for half a million dollars hours earlier – and they therefore needed some time to think about it since the county has so many other worthy projects that need Rescue Plan Act money.

Medical respite beds, which the Servant Center hopes to add to their programing, are one part of a specialized care package that provides short-term, recuperative care for people experiencing homelessness and who are too ill or frail to recover on the streets or in shelters. However, their condition isn’t severe enough that it requires them to be hospitalized.

The occupants may get ongoing care for medical conditions or, say, care during a post-surgical recovery period.

Guilford County Commissioner Pat Tillman, who serves in the National Guard, is a big proponent of spending the money to expand services at the new Servant Center, and, at the November 21 work session, he made a strong case for the new program.

 “One we know there’s a need,” Tillman said, adding that the county already spends a great deal of money on veteran’s services

He said that funding the Servant Center is a very efficient and effective use of those dollars.

“The Servant Center is a high caliber organization; it’s a quality organization,” Tillman told the board in the Carolyn Coleman meeting room on the first floor of the Old Guilford County Court House in downtown Greensboro.

He said that, of 231 people served by the center’s rapid rehousing program last year, 97 percent exited into permanent housing.

“Think about that,” he said, adding that he couldn’t imagine a more worthy group of people to help than homeless veterans with medical issues.

“It’s not a hand out; it’s a hand up,” Tillman told the board.

He made a motion at the afternoon work session to approve the spending; however, apparently, some fellow commissioners had found out about the agenda item just hours prior to the meeting.

Commissioner Mary Beth Murphy said, “I only learned about it two hours ago, so I am a little taken aback by it,” and she later added, “I personally would like to have some time to digest it.”

Commissioner Carly Cooke also felt as though she hadn’t had enough time to study the request.

“This feels sudden for a very large amount of money,” Cooke said at the work session.

She added that it appeared to her that the commissioners should seek a more comprehensive strategy for the Rescue Plan money rather than allocate such a large amount in “such an expeditious manner.”

So, at the work session, the board ultimately decided to push the decision down the road.

The Servant Center purchased the 37,000-square-foot former Holden Heights Nursing Home in July of 2024 with financial support from the Veteran’s Administration, Guilford County government and the City of Greensboro.

Renovations of that building are currently underway and the organization hopes to move into the building in April of 2025 and sell the building it now owns.

The plan is for all of the current operations of the Servant Center to move to the newly renovated building – and the organization hopes to start up the medical respite bed program that would provide 22 beds,

Services already offered by the Servant Center include a transitional housing program for disabled veterans experiencing homelessness, group counseling services, life skills classes, medical support, case management and social activities.

The new Servant Center will also house the group’s “Fast Track” operations – a rapid rehousing program meant to help struggling veterans and their families get back into permanent homes.

In addition, the new center will be home to the Disability Assistance Program that helps uninsured and underinsured veterans, as well as other clients, get the funds necessary to meet their needs.

The new Servant Center will include a game room, large dining area, lounge area, computer lab, barber shop and a meeting and training space for life skills classes, mental health treatment and substance abuse classes.

Each room in the new center will have its own bathroom, so the center will be able to serve males and females alike.

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston said after the discussion at the work session that it was clear that some commissioners needed more time to take in the information and digest it.

The motion on the table at the work session, which is expected to be on the commissioners’ agenda in the board’s last meeting of 2024, is to “Authorize staff to take any and all necessary actions including, but not limited to execution of contracts and associated budget or fund-related amendments in the approval of utilizing ARPA [American Rescue Plan Act] enabled funding, to award $500,000 to the Servant Center for the purposes of expanding services for disabled veterans.”

That motion will now be on the December 19 commissioners’ agenda and it sounds as though, at that time, the board will vote to pass it.

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