South Bend takes a step closer to homeless intake center

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The New Day Intake Center was up for discussion again at Tuesday afternoon’s City of South Bend Plan Commission meeting.

This comes after years of conversation about finding a solution for homelessness in the community, but New Day Intake Center board president, Margaret Pfeil, said it was a 2017 study that really set the city in motion.

“The idea for an intake center flows out of a 2017 report on homelessness that was undertaken by the city and also community stakeholders. So that’s one big reason this is a fulfillment of a longstanding plan that the community has articulated as necessary,” said Pfeil.

The city wants to replace the current low-barrier homeless center, Motels4Now, with a new facility. So, at the end of 2024, the South Bend Redevelopment Committee purchased nearly 15 acres of land at 4022 Old Cleveland Road for the center.

However, in order to move forward with the project, the city had to request some action from the Plan Commission.

First, the Plan Commission voted and approved a development variance, which will allow the project to not have to build specific types of buildings on the property.

Then, the city asked the Plan Commission to send two things to the council: a rezoning petition to change the area from an ‘I Industrial’ zone to a ‘S2 Suburban Neighborhood 2’ Zone and a use variance that would allow a group residence on the property.

The Plan Commission voted unanimously to send the two ordinances to the common council with a favorable recommendation.

The New Day Intake Center is currently running a campaign to reach their 18.8-million-dollar goal for the project. So far, they have raised over 10 million but need 14.3 million to start construction.