EXODUS HOMES FINISHES WORK ON APARTMENTS

Exodus Homes is spreading its roots in Hickory.

The nonprofit group operates transitional housing for people moving out of
drug-and-alcohol centers and back into the community. Last week, it
celebrated the end of the rehabilitation of the former Horseshoe Apartments
on Eighth Avenue Drive S.W. in the Ridgeview community.

It cost $390,000 to buy and fix up the 14-unit complex, said Susan Smith,
assistant executive director for Exodus Homes.

The complex once was a notorious drug haven and came close to being
demolished by the city in 1997 before Exodus Homes took over in 1999.
Improvements include new windows, central heating and air, a repaved
parking lot, new fencing and painting.

Residents at the complex can receive vocational, medical, legal and social
services help through Exodus Homes.

The group runs three locations with 57 beds and intends to add more sites.
One is a former crack house across the street from the former Horseshoe
Apartments.

Exodus Homes has received approval for funding on the $108,000 project from
the Unifour Consortium, which operates out of the Western Piedmont Council
of Governments, Smith said. The council will pick up 75 percent of the tab,
and the rest would come from other sources.

And Exodus Homes is considering leasing a former Salvation Army site on
Second Avenue S.E. The sites would add another 12 beds for the organization.

The two new projects would serve as permanent support housing for people
who are likely to be in a recovery community indefinitely and provide them
with access to all of the services available at transitional sites.