GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Twenty-eight homeless youth will have a safe place to stay, programs and wrap around services to put them on a path toward a job, home and independence in November.

Detroit-based Covenant House Michigan is building a $3.5 million three-story, 17,000-square-foot youth home, south of the intersection of Franklin Street and Division Avenue at 26 Antoine St.

"We are not a shelter, we are a program designed to help young people get on their feet,'' said Pam Spaeth, chief operating officer for Covenant House Michigan Grand Rapids. "This is an investment in our youth and this community.''

Approved by the city commission as a 90-day emergency shelter, Spaeth said it is a program of self-sufficiency to help 14 men and 14 women, ages 18 to 24, become successful adults.

A ribbon cutting is planned for Nov. 14 and youth will begin moving in on Nov. 26.

"If our youth are not ready to leave after 90 days, they will remain in this program until they are ready and self-sufficient to move out into appropriate housing,'' Spaeth said.

"We want them to be capable of managing their life, so they will be successful adults when they leave. We will have benchmarks to help them understand their readiness to move on.''

The temporary home is next door to Covenant House's charter high school, Covenant House Academy Grand Rapids for homeless, at-risk and runaway youth. The high school opened in 2013 with a long-term vision of a shelter.

The year-round school, located at 50 Antoine St. SE, usually has about 350 students in the fall and 20 percent identify as homeless.

Statewide there were 36,811 homeless students reported by public schools for 2016-17, according to most recent state data released last December. More than 3,300 of those students attended school in Kent and Ottawa counties.

Spaeth said Covenant House will begin working with its referral partners in early November to discuss youth who are most in need. She said those partners include, HQ, a drop-in center for homeless and runaway youth ages 14 to 24, 3:11 Youth Housing, and Mel Trotter Ministries.

Homeless advocates told city officials when Covenant House was seeking approval for the home that the area lacked safe, affordable and youth-appropriate shelter and housing options.

The youth home will have 30 staffers, including an employment education and life skills specialists, a psychologist, three case managers, 16 resident advisers, security, outreach coordinators, and cooks, who will provide three meals a day.

"The focus is education, employment, socialization and life-skills training,'' Spaeth said. "If they are not working and they are not in school, they will be in life-skills training here every day such as financial awareness.''

Spaeth said they will we working with the youth, who want to be in school, to determine which school choice in the area is the best fit for them.

The youth will be housed on the upper floors by gender - second floor (female) and third floor (male).

The original plan was to have two people to a room but after input from homeless youth, many of whom have never had their own room, each student will have their own room with dorm room style loft bed.

They will have a card key entry system such as used by hotels.

The bathrooms/ showers are in a common area but with private stalls. Each floor will have a technology area for computer usage, a lounge with a big screen TV, a cafe where there will be food and drinks stored, and a washer and dryer.

The multipurpose training area is on the main floor, along with the administrative officers, a reflection room, welcome room, conference room and kitchen. There is also an outdoor seating area.

The building has a lot of windows and bright lights that Spaeth said is intentional.

"This whole building has been built with transparency because so many kids in this situation have been with held behind doors and in darkness,'' she said.

Covenant House Michigan also operates a youth shelter in Detroit near its three charter high schools in Detroit.

Grand Valley State University authorizes the Grand Rapids academy, as well as the three in Detroit. The schools are managed by Youth Vision Solutions.

The organization launched the public phase of its $4.5 million campaign in November 2017, for the area's first homeless youth home. More than $3 million has been raised.

Spaeth said from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, an anonymous donor will match donations dollar for dollar.

People can make online donations at www.covenanthousemi.org, call 616-401-2336, or email pspaeth@covenanthouse.org. Donations can also be mailed to Beyond These Walls, Covenant House Michigan Grand Rapids, P.O. Box 150350, Grand Rapids, MI 49515.

The school and youth home are neighbors to Campau Park, New Hope Baptist Church, Delaware Manor, an affordable housing building for seniors, and Campau Commons, an complex for low-income families, senior citizens and the disabled.