Just as daybreak brings fresh hope with the rising sun, a new homeless shelter for men in Valparaiso by the same name celebrated Friday morning the half-finished building that will open by the end of the year.
Daybreak, a Respite House Project, is a 9,600-square-foot shelter on the south side of Don Hovey Drive that will offer 24 beds to the unhoused men of Valparaiso.
“We’re here today to help people who will never know we cared,” said Mitch Peters, who spearheaded the project. “But we know and God knows.”
Sam Burgett, social worker for the Porter County Sheriff’s Office, said she realized a pattern in the need for housing three years ago “when I had my very first client lose their house and choose to end their life as a result.”
At any time there are 30 to 50 unhoused people in Valparaiso, according to Ryan Peters, president of Respite House, which operates two halfway houses in Valparaiso for men with substance use disorders.
“That includes people who are living in their cars,” Peters said. He and others at the lectern gave credit to Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS) and New Creations, a homeless mission in Valparaiso that houses people in 25 area churches.
Ryan Peters said Daybreak contacted New Creations to get their blessing on the project.
“We’re trying to alleviate the burden of churches getting volunteers to get people to stay overnight at their facility,” he said. Another goal of providing a men’s shelter was to make it easier for other organizations to focus on women.
Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas acknowledged as much. “We don’t really have a men’s shelter in the community. Men are moving from church to church,” he said.
Porter County Sheriff Jeff Balon said his office gets a lot of calls from people who consider the unhoused to be trespassing. Daybreak will give his staff a place to refer those who need shelter.
“This will be less about recovery, although we hope to transition people if anyone is struggling with substance use disorder,” said Ryan Peters.
Daybreak will offer men a place to stay for six months to a year and offer a resource center and case management to help them back to permanent housing. Four live-in staff will be on-site and the shelter will also operate as an emergency shelter and police drop-off site for all genders.
Union craftspeople from Laborers’ Local 81, Iron Workers Local 395, National Electrical Contractors Association Local 531, The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, Cement Masons Local 692, and the Carpenters Apprenticeship Program all donated labor.
Costas praised general contractor Tonn and Blank for organizing the donation of materials and labor. “They always step up and always give back,” he said. A long list of businesses also donated or gave discounts on their products and services.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
