Finish line in sight for Haven Hope House homeless shelter 

WARNER ROBINS — In 2023, the city of Warner Robins celebrated a building on 79 Green Street, the future site of a city-owned homeless shelter after its purchase in April. Soon after, the city began working on renovating the building via the BUILD program, a city initiative that provided materials and relied on volunteers for labor.

In December 2024, Council voted to speed up the process in partnership with a general contractor. On Dec. 16, the city awarded a bid to Pro Construction of Georgia, spending $997,000 in ARPA funds to complete construction and renovation on the building, according to council documents. 

Mayor LaRhonda Patrick said the company is expected to start renovations in January, mainly tying up loose ends and seeing the project through to completion. Council documents said the contractor estimated 90 days to finish the shelter, bringing the city one step closer to the shelter’s grand opening.

The BUILD program’s goal was to garner as much community support as possible, which Patrick said posed a challenge with a shortage of skilled labor donations. Starting the bid process for renovations essentially put the project at a standstill, she explained.

“We had to go out and do the bid process according to the state requirements … to get the new contractor that we have now to do all the skilled labor and more for us,” Patrick explained. “What we were hoping to see for donations of skilled labor did not come to fruition, and that was the biggest delay in the project.”

Although lack of skilled labor was initially an issue, the city employed several key players, including a project manager, building inspector and outreach coordinator, to oversee the project. Constituents, state and federal agencies and nonprofit organizations, Patrick reported, have been excited to see the shelter come to fruition and pledged support. She said the city is still open to donations and community builds.

“It’s been so warm and welcoming. It’s been a great feeling to see so many people coming behind the city in support of this, even nonprofit organizations who don’t have as many resources as big companies. But they, too, have been anticipating and giving their time, giving their resources, donating money and different things to the shelter. It really does show we’re coming together as a family to see the shelter through,” Patrick said.

She also mentioned the work shows the city’s commitment to addressing homelessness.

“We’re not about saying something and not backing it up. [We’re] actually moving forward with planning to get to results. We get to results, and we do it as quickly as possible. So, this shelter is just proof positive of that. We’ve never stopped our efforts. We’ve continued to move at a pace proper to get this thing out the door and opened up as soon as possible,” Patrick said.

As the contractor begins working, the finish line is in sight for the city. Patrick said the shelter is an opportunity to help clean up the area and change lives.

“It’s being able to help transform the lives of individuals who made a wrong turn somewhere that caused them to be in the streets and living in the woods. And it helps to clean up our streets. It helps to re-home, to get these individuals transformed into a new life,” Patrick said.

Her hope is for the shelter to be a shining beacon of community service for the area.

Patrick said, “It’s going to be that aiming light, another aiming light in middle Georgia, where we’re able to help people that live in our community.”