What Started As Emergency Housing Offers Model For Ending Homelessness
It was fortuitous that the Sheraton Wilmington South in New Castle County went up for auction right before the state had to meet the spending deadline for federal CARES Act funds. Amid a raging global public health crisis, Delaware’s most populous county needed safe non-congregate housing for its most vulnerable population, and, following California’s Project Roomkey model, it looked to hotels.
On Dec. 1, 2020, New Castle County settled on the property for $19.5 million, and a mere two weeks later, the Hope Center opened, welcoming its first 73 residents on the eve of the state’s first COVID winter surge.