NONPROFIT Conroe nonpro t attempting to make lasting impact on homeless population
BY JISHNU NAIR
According to data from the Houston-based nonpro t Coalition for the Homeless’ annual Point in Time survey, Montgomery County unsheltered populations increased from 44 to 86 annually from 2017-20 before declining to 29 in 2022. Redus said those experiencing homelessness wind up in Conroe due to several factors, including the county jail and access to the county’s only emergency shelter. The campus is under construction through a partnership between HomeAid Houston—the charity arm of the Greater Houston Builders Association—and Highland Homes, an employee-owned homebuilding company based in the Dallas area. Redus rst imagined the Miracle City concept in 2009, but the chari- ty’s board advised him Compassion United was not ready to support it in 2014. He returned to the concept in 2017 and secured commitments from
Luke Redus, director of the Conroe nonpro t Compassion United, led the June 17 groundbreaking for the latest addition to the Miracle City campus—a 15-bed transitional living housing unit for people facing home- lessness or addiction, according to a Compassion United announcement. Redus said the units will help tackle several root issues of home- lessness and addiction, such as addressing past traumas. Compassion United sta , who are trained in addressing addiction recovery, will be on-site to ensure residents have regular check-ins. The site will also help people facing homelessness “get back on their feet,” Redus said. “You can take a homeless person and put them in an apartment, but then you have a homeless person in an apartment,” Redus said. “We help them learn to look at themselves and at life di erently.”
Conroe city o cials and Compassion United sta celebrated the June 17 groundbreaking of Miracle City’s rst transitional housing unit. (Courtesy Luke Redus)
MIRACLE CITY The Miracle City campus underway is located o Foster Drive.
Conroe City Council in 2018. In February 2019, the city donated 5 acres of land, and Montgomery County’s Community Development o ce provided a $1.2 million grant. Miracle City broke ground in 2020 near Foster Drive, and its ve-year build-out includes a tiny-house village as well as more skills training facilities, such as for carpentry. Redus said transitional housing would be Miracle City’s rst phase. He expects the campus to be com- pleted by the end of 2024. Miracle City’s Empowerment Center, which hosts Compassion United’s o ces as well as classrooms, a church and
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hygiene services, opened April 15. “Homelessness isn’t a black-and- white issue,” Redus said. “There are faces behind those names. My passion is for people to understand that there is more to it than, ‘They don’t want to work.’”
TO VISIT: From downtown Houston, take I-45 North. Exit Highway 242 and turn right. Turn right on Harper’s Trace. HarpersPreserve.com
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CONROE MONTGOMERY EDITION • JULY 2022
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