“Healing, hope, and home” — Mirci set to open new site for unhoused young women

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Representatives from Mirci and other local organizations broke ground at the site of a new transitional home for unhoused young women.

Set to open in the Spring of 2025, the safe haven will be built just  off of Gervais Street and Millwood Avenue and will be available for unhoused women between the ages of 17 and 22 years old.

The new 10-bedroom home will be known as “Millwood Place,” and is a joint effort between Mirci, the SC Department of Mental Health, the United Way of the Midlands, Central Carolina Community Foundation, SC Housing Authority, and the Leon Levine Foundation.

“Not everybody is always welcoming when we’re doing supportive or assisted housing, so having a neighborhood who is thrilled to embrace us or embrace our mission, means a lot. So that’s another partner in this whole cog,” says Julie Ann Avin, the president of Mirci.

During their stay, the site will provide residents with access to trained staff who will help them pursue and achieve their goals regarding education, careers, and permanent housing.

And Avin says it’s not always teens that are seen as being on the wrong path who are unhoused, sometimes they have no other choice.

“We’re talking about intervening early when a 17-year-old is dealing with the trauma of. Perhaps mama has a new boyfriend and he doesn’t like the kids there anymore, ok? So the school social worker finds out that the kid’s grades are slipping somewhat, finds out that the kid doesn’t have a permanent place to sleep — they make a referral to us,” she says.

The President of United Way of the Midlands, Sara Fawcett, also addressed the need for the new “Millwood Place” safe haven.

“A lot of times these kids are coming out of very difficult home circumstances, or they’re coming out of foster care, and there’s not enough of a safety net once they are out to be able to help them get on their feet and be successful. It’s a highly trafficked group of people, it is a highly vulnerable group of people that often go unseen until they show up in the criminal justice system, or some other place where we’d rather they not be,” Fawcett says.

Mirci’s first home specifically for young men saw a 90 % employment rate upon exit, 80% transition to stable housing, and 100% of residents reported improvement in their mental health.