The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners are continuing to make progress towards the new Cumberland County  Homeless Support Center. 

At their recent Commissioners meeting held on Sept. 18, the Board voted unanimously to select LS3P as the architect for the Homeless Support Center project.

On July 10, 2023, Cumberland County advertised a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Professional Services for Programming, Design Services and Construction Administration for the Cumberland County Homeless Support Center. The County received three responses and a staff committee evaluated submissions with LS3P scoring the highest. 

Director Of Engineering and Infrastructure Jermaine Walker provided a breakdown to the Board, explaining that after the department interviewed each firm, they were scored with the highest possible score being 150.

According to the Board Agenda, each firm was evaluated on a rubric focusing on Understanding of the problem statement and requirements outlined in the RFQ; Team approach; Qualifications of personnel, approach to deliverables and quality of recommendations; Relevant experience in undertaking projects of similar scope,

complexity, importance and value, and lessons learned to be applied to this project; Quality and clarity of proposal and Presentation and Interview.

LS3P received a total score of 131.5 out of 150 and thus received staff recommendation for the project. 

According to the Request for Qualifications sent out for the project, the Center to be constructed will consist of a two-story building with roughly 50,000-60,000 gross square feet.

The Center will be located on approximately 7.18 acres. The Center will be used to provide temporary shelter and supportive services to homeless individuals to include single adults and families with children.

The first floor of the Center will consist of a congregate style floor plan for mostly single male adults. The first floor will also have a community room / living area, commercial kitchen, several offices, reception / security area, conference room, and several bathrooms with showers, and laundry room. The second floor of the Center will be non-congregate style with private rooms, each with a sleeping area for mostly females

and families with children. The second should be designed to include a community room / living area to promote family interaction. The design should consider safety measures to separate family and female units from the male units and limit any visitors to only the reception area.

The Project site encompasses 5 parcels consisting of a portion of developed (approximately 7.14 acres) of land. One parcel consists of an existing single-family dwelling. The land and properties are located within the City of Fayetteville and owned by public and private entities. The Project site is surrounded by other commercial and residential buildings.