MANSFIELD — Miles Parsons would like to find a larger home for the Wayfinders homeless shelter.
The organization’s executive director made presentations about his plans on Wednesday to the Richland County Land Bank in the afternoon and to Mansfield City Council in the evening.
The proposal to relocate the shelter, formerly known as Harmony House, is dependent upon purchasing property at 661 Park Ave. East from the Land Bank and receiving financial assistance from the city and county to renovate the former medical offices building on the site.
Wayfinders, an organization founded in Mansfield 34 years ago, is is now located downtown at 124 W. Third St., a site Parsons said would be sold if the move is made.
It served more than 600 clients in 2023 and may eclipse 700 in 2024, according to Parsons.
“We have outgrown the (current) space,” Parsons said. “(661 Park Ave. East) has been sitting empty for several years, but it has a great deal of potential.”
The new site, while in the city limits, is roughly 12,500 square feet and is located next to the Richland County Sheriff’s Office.
(Below is a PDF with a presentation made Wednesday to Mansfield City Council and the Richland County Land Bank by Miles Parson, executive director of Wayfinders.)
Parsons said it would cost between $2.1 and $2.6 million to renovate the former medical offices. The Third Street site has a capacity of 58 people and the new site could serve up to 90 clients at one time in a better designed facility and has potential for future expansion.
He said the site is located on the Richland County Transit bus line, allowing the temporarily housed residents transportation services. He said its location near the RCSO would allow the sheriff’s office to park vehicles in the lot, which could enhance security at the site.
Parsons said Wayfinders provides temporary housing, normally up to 40 days, to women, children and men, assisting them in finding permanent homes, jobs and more during the process.
The move would also open the Third Street site for potential new development in the Imagination District, across the street from the Renaissance Theatre and the Buckeye Imagination Museum.
Mayor Jodie Perry said the city has $600,000 remaining in American Rescue Plan Act funds and plans to ask council to award $500,000 to the Wayfinders project at its next meeting.
That would mean the project must be complete by the end of 2026 in order to meet ARPA requirements, a timeline Parsons said he is comfortable the organization would meet in response to a question from At-large Councilman David Falquette.
He and architect Matthew Stanfield, principal at FiELD9: architecture, offered the same timeline assurances to Land Bank board members.
“I think it’s a win all the way around,” Perry said. “We have seen the uptick of the housing issues that we’re having in downtown.”
Richland County Commissioner Tony Vero, a member of the Land Bank board, said the county has no ARPA remaining. The three-member board could elect to provide $500,000 from its capital funds to the Land Bank, which could then assist Wayfinders with the project.
Parsons has obtained $250,000 in state capital funds and is working to obtain assistance from the Richland County Foundation and the Milliron Foundation.
He said the organization looked at two potential sites and had an architectural and engineering comparison done between the two. The PAE site was determined most suitable.
(Below is an architectural and engineering analysis comparing two properties considered for a new home for Wayfinders in Mansfield. The building at 661 Park Ave. East was eventually chosen.)
