Columbia’s long-awaited Opportunity Campus opened its doors July 13, and a month later the numbers tell you how much it was needed: the shelter is running at 85 to 90 percent capacity most nights, serving between 128 and 135 people, according to ABC 17 News.
The campus is bigger than just a place to sleep. It’s a 30,000-plus-square-foot building housing the 150-bed Waypoint Shelter alongside roughly 30 local nonprofits under one roof — the kind of one-stop setup meant to cut down on people bouncing between offices across town for help. Next door, the New Day Center’s overnight space adds room for about 15 more people during warming or cooling emergencies.
Beyond a bed, the campus offers case management, help with basic life skills like cooking and budgeting, GED and HiSET tutoring through local college partnerships, support groups, and — notably for anyone who’s had to choose between a shelter bed and a pet — space for dogs. Shelter Director Jessica McNear and Voluntary Action Center Executive Director Ed Stansberry are overseeing operations, and ABC 17 reports case managers have already helped some residents find permanent housing.
To manage capacity, the campus is prioritizing people who became homeless in Boone County; staff verify that through intake conversations, and people from outside the county are referred elsewhere. McNear told ABC 17 the shared building is already paying off logistically — “we’re not duplicating services,” as she put it — since the nonprofits under one roof can coordinate instead of each running its own separate case file on the same person.
None of this is Rocheport’s front yard, but Boone County’s social safety net is one a lot of the surrounding counties lean on too when a local option isn’t available. A month in, the early read is that the need was there the day the doors opened — worth watching whether capacity holds as the numbers settle in.