Cincinnati’s Drop Inn Center solves overcrowding issues with new location February 1, 2015

To solve severe overcrowding issues, the Drop Inn Center is moving its men’s shelter to a 79,000-square-foot former bakery building with 150 beds that doubles its existing size. The new facility will have a medical clinic, classrooms, and more kitchen and laundry space, as well as serve men and women at two different sites. The women’s shelter, about a mile away, will have 60 beds.

IFF became involved with the project through the Midwest Nonprofit Lenders Alliance, its partnership with the Cincinnati Development Fund to help support nonprofits in Ohio. In December, IFF made a $3.4 million bridge loan with The Reinvestment Fund to acquire and renovate the property. Additionally, IFF provided $6 million in new markets tax credits with PNC Bank as the tax credit investor. Other funding sources for the $17.6 million project include PNC Bank, the city of Cincinnati, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, and The Reinvestment Fund.

The project is part of Cincinnati’s Homeless to Homes (H2H) Plan, an initiative among five shelters to increase the number of permanent supportive housing beds and reconfigure existing shelter beds to better meet needs. The project developer is 3CDC, a local nonprofit real estate development and finance organization.

The Drop Inn Center’s new men’s shelter will create four full-time positions and 13 part-time positions, in addition to its current staff of 24 full-time and part-time employees. Cincinnati’s largest homeless shelter, the Drop Inn Center serves 1,930 adults and 49 seniors annually, of whom 78 percent are men.